Far From Home
by powerhouse27
Summary: "I had just finished watching RWBY Vol. 5, I was expecting the next day to be normal, but, instead, I wake up in Beacon Academy the morning of the Initiation. What happened? Why and how am I here? Who will I be partnered with? Okay, calm down. I guess that as long as I'm here, I should try to change things for the better." RWBY Self-insertion. No yuri or yaoi. Reviews are welcome.
1. Chapter 1: Wake-Up Call

**A quick note, I will not be using my real name, just to let everyone know.**

* * *

I woke up from a long night of sleep. The night before, I had just finished watching RWBY season 5 and I knew that I had something to do the morning after, but something was off. I could tell because my bed seemed awfully hard.

I slowly opened my eyes, and I thought I must have still been dreaming, because I looked around and I thought I was in Beacon's ballroom. There were sleeping bags everywhere, and then I heard a very familiar line from RWBY.

"Wake up, lazybutt!" Nora said to her friend Ren, "It's morning! It's morning! It's morning!"

My eyes moved over to look at Nora and Ren, I couldn't believe it. Two RWBY characters were right there.

"Nora? Ren?" I asked, walking over to the two teens.

"That's me!" Nora replied.

"How do you know our names?" Ren asked, "I've never seen you before."

"I've...uh...heard your names before." I said.

"What's your name?" Nora asked.

"Kody Crimson." I replied.

"Nice to meet you," Nora said, "Let's go, Ren."

Nora and Ren walked off.

I looked around the room and I saw the other main RWBY cast members, including Ruby, Yang, Weiss, Blake, Jaune, Pyrrha, the future Team CRDL and others.

"I...I...I have to be dreaming." I said to myself, "I can't be in the world of RWBY."

I passed out from shock, landing on my sleeping bag.

* * *

 **Some time later...**

* * *

I opened my eyes, seeing Ruby and Yang standing over me.

"His eyes are open." Ruby said.

"Are you okay?" Yang asked, "You took a nasty fall."

I got up and looked around, I was in a cafeteria.

"Yep, definitely at Beacon." I said.

"Well, not yet. We do have to get through the initiation and all." Yang said.

"Oh, right, the Initiation." I said.

"We brought you some food." Ruby said, signaling to a tray of pancakes near me on the table.

"Thanks." I said.

I began to eat the pancakes, surprised I could eat at all after the recent shock.

"So, what's your name?" Yang asked.

"Me? Oh, I'm Kody Crimson." I replied.

"Hello, Kody, I'm Ruby." Ruby said.

"And I'm her older sister Yang." Yang said.

"Nice to meet you two." I said, "Thanks for carrying me here."

"Don't mention it." Ruby said, "After all, Yang did all the lifting."

I talked with Ruby and Yang all through breakfast and we eventually headed off to the locker room for weapons and armor.

* * *

"So, you guys are from Patch?" I asked as we walked into the room.

"Yep." Ruby replied, "And you?"

"I'm... let's just say I'm from outside the kingdom." I said.

"Okay." Ruby replied right before stopping in front of one of the lockers, "Here we are."

Ruby pressed a few of the keys and the locker opened, revealing Ruby's weapon, Crescent Rose.

"I'll go get mine." Yang said right before walking off.

I looked around.

"Ruby, did you happen to see what locker I put my gear in?" I asked.

"No." Ruby replied, "Did you forget already?"

"I guess so." I replied.

"Maybe you put a note in your pocket or something." Ruby said.

I checked my pocket and pulled out a piece of paper that said " _locker 636, code 3276._ " I walked off to locker 636 while Yang ccame back and talked to Ruby. I approached my locker and typed the code in, it opened and revealed a shield.

"A shield?" I asked, "Nothing else?"

I looked in and saw a pair of thick metal bracelets.

"O-o-okay." I said, grabbed the bracelets and putting them on.

I began to walk back towards Ruby and Yang, but I stopped when Jaune, flying through the air because of Pyrrha's spear, crashed into me.

"Oof!" Jaune and I grunted.

"I'm sorry!" Pyrrha said.

"It's alright." I said.

"Will all first-year students report to Beacon cliff for initiation? All first-year students report to Beacon Cliff immediately." Glynda said over the PA.

"It was nice meeting you." Pyrrha said.

"Likewise." Jaune said as Pyrrha grabbed her spear.

Jaune got back up.

"I'm Jaune." Jaune said, helping me up.

"My name is Kody." I said, when a thought shot through my head, "I saw you flirting with Weiss."

"Yeah, I...uh..." Jaune said.

"Don't." I said, "She's not interested in you."

"Give it time." Jaune said, "The school year's only just begun."

"What about the other girl?" I asked, knowing that I was referring to Pyrrha, "She seemed interested in you."

"Who? Pyrrha?" Jaune asked, "Are you sure?"

"Trust me." I said.

Jaune hesitated for a moment.

"I'll see you later." I said walking to Beacon Cliff.

* * *

"For years you have trained to become warriors, and today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest." Professor Ozpin said.

"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors of the assignment of teams. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion." Glynda said, "Each of you will be given teammates, today."

"What? Oh..." Ruby moaned.

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon, so it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well." Professor Ozpin said.

Ruby moaned.

"That being said, the first person you make eye contact with will be your partner for the next four years." Ozpin said.

"What?!" Ruby exclaimed.

"See? I told you." Nora said to Ren.

"After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you will die." Ozpin said.

Jaune swallowed loudly.

"You will be graded and monitored for the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics; each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. You will guard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately." Ozpin said, "Are there any questions?"

"Yeah, uh, sir?" Jaune asked.

"Good! Now, take your positions." Ozpin said.

"Uh...sir, I've got a...um... question." Jaune said, "So this whole 'landing strategy' thing, what is it are you dropping us off or something?"

"Mind if I explain it, Professor?" I asked, standing next to Ruby and Yang.

"Go ahead." Ozpin said.

"Okay, Jaune, basically: you get launched into the air without a parachute and have to find a safe way to land." I explained.

"Uh huh, yeah." Jaune said.

"One last thing." I said.

"What's that?" Jaune asked.

"Don't die." I said right before launching.

* * *

I flew through the air along with the other students when I realized something: I didn't know how to use my weapons! I began to fiddle with the shield, it suddenly split into two sword, I almost lost the second sword. I decided to try and use the swords, but I ended up crashing into a tall tree and began to drop through the branches, eventually landing at ground level. When I opened my eyes, I saw the person who was going to be my partner for my time at Beacon.

It's going to be a long year.

* * *

 **Well, that was a thing. So, who do you think my partner is? Please put your guesses in the Reviews section and we'll find out who's right.**

 **Powerhouse out.**


	2. Chapter 2: Checkmate

**Alright, time to reveal my partner. If your guess was right, please say so in the Reviews, and be honest. Anyways, here's chapter 2.**

* * *

Hard to believe that yesterday I was watching RWBY Volume 5; and today, I'm looking into the eyes of my partner for my time at Beacon. Please tell me this is a bad dream.

"Whoa!" the green-haired future member of Team CRDL, Russell Thrush, said looking at me, "That was some fall."

"Yeah," I simply replied, "So, what's your name?"

I knew fully well who it was.

"Russell Thrush." Russell said, "And your name?"

"Kody Crimson." I said, getting myself up, "I guess we're partner's now."

"Then let's get a move on." Russell said, running off.

"Russell!" I called out, following the teen.

Why did I have to get stuck with this guy? How can thing get worse?

"Ursa! Ursa!" Russell said, running back and crashing into me.

"Ow. What's up?" I asked.

"Ursa! A big one!" Russell said.

I looked behind Russell and saw an Ursa that was an above average size running at us.

"Wow those things are scarier in real life!" I said.

"You're telling me!" Russell said.

"Russell, what weapons do you have?" I asked.

"Two knives." Russell said, "I focus on speed."

"Okay." I said, "Can you distract him?"

"You're not the boss of me." Russell said.

The Ursa swung its paw at Russell and barely missed.

"Good plan!" Russell said, right before running at the Ursa and slashing at it.

I pulled my swords out. Suddenly, I felt like I had used these before and ran at the Ursa, swiftly decapitating the beast while it focused on Russell.

"That was sick, dude!" Russell said.

"Yeah...uh...how about we just get to the temple?" I asked.

Russell nodded.

* * *

The two of us walked through the forest, keeping an eye out for the Grimm and the temple. Suddenly, we heard a loud, familiar to me, squeal.

"What was that?!" Russell asked.

"There's only one girl on Remnant who squeals like that." I said, "Follow me!"

Russell followed after me. Eventually, we slid into a small clearing where Weiss was ranting on about the Temple's location while Ruby ignored her.

"I mean, this way, it's definitely this way." Weiss said, pacing, "Alright, it's official, we passed it."

"Actually, I think you guys are lost." I said.

"Kody! Oh, it's so nice to see a familiar face." Ruby said.

"Who's this?" Weiss asked.

"He's Kody Crimson, I met him this morning." Ruby said.

"This is my partner, Russell Thrush." I said.

"Nice to meet you." Ruby said.

"If you have all stopped getting all chummy, can we get going?" Weiss asked.

"As you wish, Ice Queen." I said, having a little fun.

"Hmph!" Weiss grunted walking off.

"Uh, north is that way." Russell said, pointing north.

"I knew that." Weiss said, turning to the north.

"So, Kody, how's your partner?" Ruby asked.

"He's alright, I guess." I replied, "And yours?"

"Don't even get me started. Weiss has only been my partner for less than a day and she's already on my nerves." Ruby said.

"Give it time, I'm sure things will work out eventually." I said.

"I hope so." Ruby replied.

Suddenly, Ruby got an idea.

"Guys, I think I found a shortcut!" Ruby exclaimed.

"What is it?" I asked.

* * *

 _How on Earth-er-Remnant did I forget about this?_

"Ruby!" Weiss yelled, "I told you this was a terrible idea!"

"How did you talk me into this?!" I asked.

 _I mean, I'm riding on a freaking giant Nevermore!_

"We're fine! Stop worrying!" Ruby said.

"I am so far beyond worrying!" Weiss replied.

"In a good way?" Ruby asked.

"In a bad way! In a very bad way!" Weiss yelled.

"Well why don't we just jump?" Ruby asked.

"What are you, insane?!" Weiss asked.

Ruby was already gone.

"Why you insufferable, little red-!" Weiss yelled.

"And I'm out of here!" I said, dropping with Russell following me.

I fell through the sky with Ruby, this time ready for landing...

"Heads up!" Ruby cried, right before getting launched into a tree with Jaune.

"I clearly didn't think this through!" I cried right before crashing into a tree.

...or so I thought. Apparently Russell landed safely.

"Ow..." I moaned, right before falling from the tree.

I got myself up and saw Blake and Yang standing in front of the temple.

"Yang?" I asked.

"Kody?" Yang asked right before Ruby dropped down from the tree, "Ruby?"

"Yang!" Ruby and I said.

"Nora!" Nora said, interrupting the reunion.

G _osh dang it, I missed Nora ride the Ursa!_

"Did she just come here with a Death Stalker on her tail?" Blake asked.

"Grr! I can't take it anymore!" Yang yelled, "Could everyone just chill out for two seconds before something crazy happens again?!"

For two seconds, we were all quiet.

"Uh...Yang?" Ruby asked, pointing to the Nevermore.

"How could you leave me?!" Weiss asked, hanging on the Nevermore's talons.

"I said jump." Ruby called.

"She's gonna fall." Blake said.

"She'll be fine." Ruby said.

"She's falling." Ren said.

Jaune got up and leapt out of the tree, trying to catch Weiss in his arms.

"Just dropping in?" Jaune asked, catching Weiss, "Oh gosh!"

Weiss and Jaune fell down, with Weiss landing on top of Jaune.

"My hero." Weiss said sarcastically.

"My back..." Jaune moaned.

 _Jaune, you idiot! Why didn't you take my advice?! I mean, good idea catching her, but why did you flirt with her?!_

Pyrrha got hit by the Death Stalker and landed next to the temple.

 _Death Stalkers are a lot scarier than I thought they would be._

"Great, the gang's all here, now we can die together!" Yang said.

"Not if I can help it." Ruby said, right before launching herself at the Death Stalker.

"Ruby!" Yang cried.

The Death Stalker backhanded Ruby, launching her quite a few feet away.

"Don't worry, totally fine!" Ruby yelled.

Ruby saw the Death Stalker approaching and ran back.

"Ruby!" Yang yelled, running to her sister's aid.

I watched as all of the stuff with Weiss saving Ruby happened, eventually, the three teens were back at the temple.

 _I can't believe that I'm here, with most of the main RWBY characters. This is awesome._

"Guys, that thing is circling back. What are we going to do?"Jaune asked.

"Look, our objective was to pick a relic and make it back to the cliffs. There's no point in fighting these things." Ruby said.

"Run and live, that is an idea I can get behind." Jaune said.

Ruby, Jaune and I walked over to the relics and looked around.

 _Avoid picking the Black Bishop._

Jaune grabbed a white rook, Ruby snagged a white knight and I grabbed a white Bishop.

"It's time we left!" Ren said.

"Right, let's go!" Ruby said.

Ruby led us in the direction of the cliffs, trying to escape the monsters.

I looked up and saw the Nevermore land on one of the ruins in front of us.

"Scatter!" I yelled.

Everyone split up, hiding behind the many stone pillars. Russell and I went for the nearest one.

"Well that's great!" Yang said sarcastically.

The Death Stalker came up behind us.

"Oh man, run!" Jaune said.

Everyone ran out from behind their cover.

"Nora, distract it!" Ren said.

Nora provided cover fire for us by shooting the Nevermore with Magnhild. Blake and Pyrrha helped cover Nora's flank.

"Go! Go! Go!" Pyrrha said as she, Ren and Blake kept the Death Stalker back.

We ran across the bridge, right before the Nevermore flew through and smashed it; sending Russell back.

"Russell!" I yelled.

"Man we gotta get over there, they need help!" Jaune said.

"Let's do this!" Nora said.

"Yeah, but...I can't make that jump." Jaune said, looking at the gap.

Nora got that look on her face and hit Jaune back, activated her hammer and jumped.

"Wait!" Jaune said, right before Nora smashed the bridge, sending him flying, "NO! NO! NO!"

As Nora and Jaune flew through the air, Team RWBY and I climbed the ruins, Blake used her whip to swing up to us when we reached the top.

"It's tougher than it looks!" Blake said.

"Then let's hit it with everything we got." Yang said.

Everyone readied their ranged weapons. I found a switch on mine that turned the shield into an assault rifle.

"Let him have it!" I yelled.

We all fired at the beast, but most of the shots just bounced off. The Nevermore plowed through the ruin, smashing it.

 _What do I do?!_

Suddenly, I created psionic blades on my fingers and stabbed them into one of the large pieces of rubble. Then, acting on my instincts, jumped from rock to rock, clinging to each on as I made my way up by Ruby and Weiss.

"None of this is working!" Weiss said.

Ruby looked around, thinking.

"I have a plan, cover me!" Ruby said.

Weiss and I ran towards the Nevermore. Weiss launched energy beams from a Glyph while I fired with my recently discovered rifle. As Team RWBY executed their plan, I saw Russell working with JNPR.

"We gotta move!" Jaune said.

Team JNPR and Russell ran across the crumbling bridge and attacked the Death Stalker. But halfway into the fight, the Death Stalker's tail swung around, hitting Russell over the cliff.

"RUSSELL!" I cried.

Without thinking, I ran in Russell's direction and jumped. I popped the claws out of my right hand and caught Russell with my left arm. I stabbed my claws into the cliff face and slowed our fall to a halt.

"Dude, that was insane." Russell said.

 _I might not like Team CRDL, but I do have to keep them alive._

"You're welcome." I replied.

After everyone finished their fights, we were almost forgotten about.

"GUYS, A LITTLE HELP HERE!" I yelled.

* * *

A few hours had passed, we were now in Beacon's Ampitheater, awaiting the team lineups.

"Kody Crimson, Russell Thrush, Dove Bronzewing, Sky Lark..." Ozpin said.

 _What?! Why are we getting put with Dove and Sky?! I chose the White Bishop piece to avoid this!_

"The four of you retrieved the White Bishop pieces, from this day forward you will work together as...Team CRDL." Ozpin said, "Led by...Kody Crimson!"

 _What, you're putting me in charge of these guys?!_

We walked off of the stage, allowing Team JNPR to form.

"So, buddy," Russell said, "How's it feel to be the boss?"

Before I could answer, Yang approached me.

"Congratulations." Yang said.

"Thanks." I said.

"Good job back there." Yang said.

"What are you talking about? I barely did anything against that Nevermore." I said.

"Not that, I'm talking about you saving Russell. It was brave." Yang said.

"Gee, thanks." I said, almost blushing.

Luckily, nobody noticed, seeing as how Team RWBY was called up moments later.

 _This is going to be quite an interesting year._

* * *

 **So, I hope you guys liked Chapter 2. This is a blast to write and I hope you like reading it. See you all next time.**

 **Powerhouse out.**


	3. Chapter 3: Birds of a Feather

**I hope you guys are having a great day, and I hope you're in the mood for more self-insertion fun. So, without further ado, here's chapter 3.**

* * *

I slowly stirred awake, my eyes opened. I expected to see my room, but I saw my new Beacon dorm room instead.

 _What?! It wasn't a dream?!_

I looked around and saw that my teammates were still asleep. The wall clock said that it was seven in the morning.

 _Oh my gosh... it's that early? Guess I should get myself ready._

I got up and searched the dorm, eventually finding our uniforms.

 _Man, I hate formal wear._

I went to the bathroom and got myself dressed. When I came out, I decided to set the alarm to eight in the morning so my team would wake up on time.

 _Guess I should learn the layout of the school._

I left a note, saying that I will meet my teammates at Oobleck's classroom when class starts. I then proceeded to walk around Beacon, investigating everything.

* * *

 _I still can't believe that I'm actually here, in Beacon academy._

I wasn't looking where I was going and accidentally bumped into Professors Ozpin and Goodwitch.

"Oh, hello." Ozpin said, "Kody Crimson is it?"

"Uh, yeah, that's what they call me." I said.

"What, may I ask, are you doing up so early?" Glynda asked.

"Just finding out what's where." I replied.

"Where are your teammates?" Ozpin asked, "It's not like a leader to be away from his friends."

"They were still sleeping. I left a note for them to meet me at Oobleck's classroom when school starts." I replied.

"I see." Ozpin said, "Be on your way then."

I walked past Glynda and Ozpin, leaving them to discuss their own topics.

"Something seems... different about that boy." Glynda said.

"We probably don't need to worry about it." Ozpin said.

* * *

I walked through the north halls, where I saw somebody that I didn't want to.

 _Cardin Winchester?_

I hid behind the corner anear let Cardin pass by.

 _I forgot about him, I wonder what team he ended up on._

I looked at a wall clock and saw that it was almost nine.

 _Oh shoot! I have to get to class!_

* * *

I rushed to the classroom, joining up with RWBY and JNPR, making it just in time.

"Hello, students, welcome to history class." Doctor Oobleck said as he dashed around the desk, "Today, we will begin with the history of the beginning of our world."

I was attentive, hoping to learn about Remnant's history. My teammates weren't so focused.

* * *

After class, we went to breakfast, which was eggs and bacon, but I ordered turkey bacon instead (I don't eat pork).

"So, guys." I said to my teammates as we sat at the same table as RWBY and JNPR, "I saw how you guys were 'paying attention' in class."

"So what?" Sky asked, "We already know this stuff."

"As your team leader, I'm telling you that you guys should focus on your studies." I said.

" _Pfft!_ Whatever." Dove said, "Let's go."

The rest of my team got up and began to walk off.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"Anywhere but here." Russell said.

I groaned as my team walked off.

"Don't worry, I'm sure that things will work out." Yang said, patting my back.

"I hope so." I replied.

* * *

Most of the school day had passed, it was finally the last class of the day; Grimm studies with Professor Port.

 _Honestly, this should be called "storytelling with Port"._

I looked around, and I saw that my team was staying as far away from me as possible and...

 _They're sitting with Cardin Winchester?!_

I was thinking so much about what my teammates were up to that I didn't notice Weiss sparring with a Boarbusk.

 _Why do I keep missing all of the fights?!_

Weiss stomped off.

"Sheesh, what's with her?" Jaune asked.

 _Sheesh, what's with my team._

I saw Cardin and my team walk off in a group, I could only feel helpless at the thought that no matter what I do, I won't be able to change a thing in this fairy tale.

* * *

I walked down the halls of Beacon, where I saw Ruby talk with Professor Ozpin and Weiss talking to Port.

 _It's hopeless, I thought that I was brought here to fix things. But, instead, I can't change anything. Jaune is still trying to get with Weiss and Team CRDL is still around. Nothing I do is working._

"You seem distressed about something." I heard a familiar voice say.

I looked up and saw Doctor Oobleck.

"Oh. Hi, Doctor." I said, "It was obvious, huh?"

"What seems to be the trouble?" Doctor Oobleck asked.

"It's my team." I said.

"Ah yes, I saw how they were * _ahem_ * 'paying attention'. " Oobleck said, "But I assume that isn't the problem."

"Yeah, they don't want to take orders from me, and they're hanging out with a guy named 'Cardin Winchester' too." I said.

"So they feel that you aren't they're correct leader?" Oobleck asked.

"Yes, that's exactly it." I said.

"I suppose that all I can tell you is that you need to do is what is right." Oobleck said.

"And what's that?" I asked.

"Only you will know that." Oobleck said.

"Okay. Thanks." I said before Oobleck walked off, "Bye, Professor."

"Doctor!" Oobleck said as he walked away.

 _I just did that for fun._

* * *

I was back in our dorm room, waiting for my team.

"Man, that Cardin guy is..." Russell said.

"Is what?" I asked.

"Oh hey, boss." Russell said.

"So, what were you guys talking about?" I asked.

"Just that Cardin fellow." Dove said, "Why do you ask?"

"I think that he's a bad influence." I said, "I'd prefer it if you guys don't hang out with him. But if you want to, go ahead, I won't stop you."

"What are you up to?" Sky asked.

"What, can't a leader let his teammates have a little fun?" I asked.

 _Come on, reverse psychology, please work._

My teammates thought about what I said.

"If you want to do what to do, go ahead. But I'm just trying to help." I said right before walking to the bathroom.

 _I just hope this works._

* * *

A mysterious figure stood from outside the dorms, watching us.

"Foolish boy, you cannot change history." a cloaked figure said.

* * *

 **That's it for chapter 3. Please leave a review, I'd love to hear everyone's opinions on this.**

 **Powerhouse out.**


	4. Chapter 4: Training Exercises

**Hello, everyone. Some of the stuff in this chapter is based off of some events from "Cold As EICE", which I recommend. I just liked the concept, shout-out to Elder Hunstman for giving me the inspiration for this. Here's chapter 4.**

* * *

My team and I were walking down the halls of Beacon, but we weren't talking to each other. It had been a few days since school started and nothing had changed since the first day of school, as far as I was aware.

 _I wonder why they called everyone to the Ampitheater._

* * *

We entered the Ampitheater, my teammates went who-knows-where while I joined up with Teams RWBY and JNPR.

"Attention students, I assume that you are wondering why we called you all here." Professor Ozpin said, "We have heard how teams are having trouble working together, so we have decided upon a training exercise to help them get along."

"We will be deploying all first-year students into the Emerald Forest. But you must work with your team to survive for a whole week." Glynda said, "I pray you do not kill each other in that time."

"You will be deployed immediately." Ozpin said, "Good luck."

I just stood in shock.

 _Wait. Me, in the wild, with my disrespecting team? Oh joy._

"Good luck, Kody." Yang said.

"Uh... you too." I said.

As everyone else left, I was busy thinking about how many ways this could go wrong.

"So, boss, we ready to head out?" Russell asked.

"Uh...yeah." I replied.

* * *

Soon, we were walking out of the Bullhead that had dropped us off in the middle of the forest. As soon as we stepped out, the ship took off, leaving us alone with each other.

"Okay, first order of business is to find a suitable place to set up camp." I said.

My teammates nodded.

 _Wow, they're actually agreeing with me?_

We walked off to find a suitable place to set up camp.

* * *

A little while later, we ran across a stream of water on a sloped hill.

"Perfect." I said, "Now to set up our base. Sky, you and Russell get wood while Dove and I find food."

"Got it." Sky replied.

"Why do I go with Sky, partner?" Russell asked.

"Dove has the weapons we need for hunting." I said, "I'm just trying to make the most of what we have."

Russell agreed and set out with Sky to chop wood.

"Come on, Dove, let's go find something to hunt." I said.

* * *

Dove and I walked through the forest until we heard the sound of a Beowolf growling.

"You hear that?" I asked.

"Yeah." Dove replied.

We peeked around a tree and saw a Beowolf standing over a freshly killed deer.

"I can't believe our luck." I said, as I prepared my rifle, "Ready, Dove?"

Dove gave me a thumbs up.

"Go, go, go!" I said as we ran at the Beowolf, guns blazing.

The beast turned towards us and snarled right before running our way.

"Switch to close-range combat!" I said.

We switched to our swords and waited for the Beowolf to get closer. When it was right in front of us, we cut it in fourths.

"Let's get our lunch back to camp." I said as the Beowolf fragments faded.

I put the deer over my shoulders and we went back to camp.

* * *

"Seems like Russell and Sky did pretty well." I said, observing our home for the week.

Our camp was pretty big, it was a few two-people tents with two fire pits one on each side of the stream. The camp was surrounded by a bunch of vertical logs.

"I see a lot of open space." I said, "What's that for?"

"In case we need to build anything else." Sky replied.

"Good thinking." I said, "I got our lunch here."

We took the deer in to camp, cleaned it and began to cook it.

* * *

After we finished cooking our lunch, we set up to eat.

"Alright, dig in guys." I said.

I had actually never eaten a deer before, but it was actually really tasty.

"So, guys. Just out of curiosity, how are things going with you all and Cardin?" I asked.

"He seems pretty cool. Why do you ask?" Sky asked.

"What? Can't a leader ask what his teammates are up to?" I asked.

My teammates were left confused.

* * *

Some time later, sun was beginning its descent.

"I think we should go to find some dinner." I said, standing up.

"Agreed." Sky said.

"No need!" we heard a familiar female voice say.

We checked the entrance to camp and saw Team RWBY standing outside.

"Who goes there?" I said in an old-sounding voice, as I looked over the wall at the team.

"Why, Team RWBY of Beacon Academy." Ruby said, going along with what I said.

"What be your business?" I asked.

"Just let us in." Weiss said, already impatient.

"Alright, Ice Queen, come on in." I said, signaling the others to open the gates.

"Ice Queen, I like that." Yang said.

Sky and Russell pulled the gate open, allowing the girls to enter, Yang was carrying two armfuls of ducks into camp.

"You guys even brought dinner." I said

"Yeah, we got lucky and found a whole pond full of them." Yang said.

"Nice camp." Ruby said, admiring my design.

"Thanks." I said, "We have space on the other side of the stream, you guys can set up camp there."

"Gee, thanks." Ruby said.

* * *

Some time later, after Team RWBY had set up camp on the other side of the stream and the sun had set, we had finished cleaning and cooking the ducks.

"So, how'd you guys stumble upon our camp?" I asked as we sat around the fire on our side of the camp.

"We saw the smoke from your fire at about lunch time." Blake said.

"If you guys saw it, I wonder who else did." I said.

Suddenly, one of the torches in our camp went out.

"What was that?" I asked, grabbing my weapon.

A few more torches went out.

"Who's there?" Ruby asked, pulling Crescent Rose out and activating scythe mode.

The last of the torches went out, leaving the only light in camp to be the campfire.

"Everyone, be careful." I said.

In the light of the fire, I saw some faces that I never wanted to see.

"Oh, no." I said.

* * *

 **Sorry if cutting this chapter off here miffs you all, but I think that this is the best way to set this up.**

 **Hope you look forward to the next chapter.**

 **Powerhouse out.**


	5. Chapter 5: An In-tent-se Situation

**If any of you were wondering who Cardin ended up with, it will be revealed in this chapter. Hope you enjoy.**

* * *

"They're trying to get around us!" Blake said.

"How can you tell?" Russell asked.

"Who cares?" I asked, trying to keep Blake's Faunas traits safe, "We need to find out who they are!"

"CRDL, you guys go after those two!" Ruby said, pointing to the silhouettes that were running along the south side of our camp.

"Got it!" I said.

My team and I ran after the shadows, but we lost them.

"Where'd they go?" Russell asked.

Suddenly, from out of nowhere, four balls flew at us, hitting us and spreading something all over our torsos.

"Paint?!" we asked.

"We got you so good!" a familiar voice said.

Cardin Winchester and a white-haired teen male, wearing a grey t-shirt, black shorts and black shoes, walked into the light.

"Cardin?" I asked, "This was a prank?!"

"Pretty good, huh?" Cardin asked.

I responded with unamused silence.

"Somebody doesn't have a sense of humor." Cardin's buddy said.

"Who are you?" I asked, unfamiliar about this person.

"I'm Cardin's partner, Andrew Quartz." the teen known as "Andrew" said.

"I haven't seen you around before though." I said, wondering why I never saw him in the show.

"I guess I'm just easy to miss." Andrew said, "But we never do."

Suddenly, a loud girl's yell could be heard.

"That's our cue." Cardin said, "See ya!"

Cardin and Andrew ran into the darkness of the woods.

"Do you guys still think he's cool?" I asked.

* * *

A few moments later, we met with Team RWBY by the campfire.

"So they got you too?" I asked, looking at the paint splatters on the team's outfits.

"Yeah." Yang said, "Weiss screamed pretty loud about it."

"Hey! They messed up a very expensive outfit!" Weiss said, defending herself.

"That will be hard to wash out." Dove said.

"So, what are we going to do?" Blake asked.

Suddenly, I got a devious idea.

"Do you guys want to get a little payback?" I asked.

"We're listening." Yang replied.

"Here's what we'll need..." I said.

* * *

Some time later, we had reached Cardin's team's camp.

"So who got you guys?" I asked in a whisper.

"The violet short-haired one and the brown spikey-haired one." Ruby said, "I think they're names are Nicolas Violet and Yale Bronze."

"Okay, now we know who we're up against." I whispered, "Everyone ready?"

Everyone else nodded.

"Initiate phase one." I said.

We all spread out around the campsite, prepared for our revenge.

"So, was that that prank amazing or what?" Cardin asked.

"Sure was." Andrew said.

"It was pretty brilliant." Nicolas said, wearing a dark violet t-shirt, dark blue pants and black shoes, "What do you think, Yale?"

"It was clever." Yale said, clothed in a brown leather jacket, blue jeans and dark brown boots.

"And I thought that the original CRDL were the biggest yes men." I thought.

I gave RWBY a hand signal before standing up and walking out from behind a tree.

"So, the pranked has come to see us." Cardin said, "Why?"

"I just came to admit something to you." I said.

"What would that be?" Cardin asked, "That the prank was pretty sweet?"

"No, this is pretty **sweet**." I said.

Suddenly, from out of the bushes, Team RWBY came out from behind the foliage and threw sacks at them, splattering goop all over them.

"Ew! What is this stuff?!" Yale asked.

"You like it?" I asked, "It's sap. And it's pretty sticky."

Cardin started to get angry.

"Quick, book it, everyone!" I yelled.

We all made a break for our camp.

"You'll pay for this!" Cardin said, "Let's get them, boys!"

CYAN started to chase us down.

"Phase two!" I yelled.

My teammates dropped huge piles of sticks and leaves from the tree branches, covering Team CYAN in foliage.

"Let's go!" I said, but not before snapping a picture of CYAN with them looking like plant monsters.

We all ran off, laughing as we went.

* * *

We arrived back at the camp, almost out of breath.

"That was awesome!" I said.

"You know what, getting back at those guys was pretty enjoyable." Weiss said, "But deplorable."

"So what?" Yang asked, "I had a blast."

We all took a moment to catch our breath.

"Alright, well now that we're through with all of that craziness, let's start heading to bed." I said, "RWBY, you guys can set up your tents on the other side of the river."

"Okay." Ruby said, "Thanks for letting us stay here."

"You're welcome." I replied.

 _I can't believe that Team RWBY thanked me for something!_

"See you guys in the morning." Ruby said.

* * *

After setting the tents up, everyone was ready to sleep. The four tents were shared by Sky and Dove, Weiss and Ruby (much to Weiss's discontent), Blake and Yang, and Russel and I respectively.

"Hey, boss." Russel said after a bit of silence.

"Hmm?" I asked.

"I suppose that you were right about Cardin." Russel said, "We were wrong to think that he was cool."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that." I said.

"From now on, we'll listen to you more, okay?" Russel asked.

"Sure." I replied, "Now get some sleep, we've got a big day ahead."

Russel laid on his side in his sleeping bag while I laid stomach down in mine.

 _Wow, it worked. I actually could thank Cardin for this. Who knew that Cardin was the only reason that Team CRDL was the way it was in the show?_

I fell asleep, thinking about how nice it was that I finally did something right in this world.

* * *

"Good morning!" Yang said in a singsong voice as she opened up the tent's door, letting the sunlight.

"AGH!" I cried, "Give us some warning next time!"

"MY EYES!" Russel cried.

"Now where's the fun in that?" Yang asked, "Besides, you guys are the last ones up."

Russel and I dragged ourselves out of the tent and over to the campfire, where Team RWBY was cooking some fish that they had caught earlier that morning.

"Thanks for breakfast, guys." I said.

"No problem." Ruby replied, "It was the least we could do for you guys letting us stay here."

"So, what's on today's agenda?" Dove asked.

"Well, our base does seem to be in pretty good condition, but we haven't worked out many essentials." I said, "I think that today, we should focus on making our camp better."

"Okay." Ruby said, "You guys can take care of that while we go hunting."

"Good idea." Russel replied.

"Okay, good luck, you guys." I said.

After cleaning up, Team RWBY set out to find food while we started to increase the living qualities of our base.

"So, boss." Russel said.

"Please, just call me Kody." I replied.'

"Okay," Russel said, "we were wondering, just how did you learn to fight so well?"

"You know, I guess it just kind of...happened." I replied.

 _Yeah, I'm wondering about that myself. I'm a horrible fighter back home, so why am I so good here?_

"So, my turn for a question." I said, "Why did you guys look up to Cardin in the first place?"

"We thought that he seemed cool, but, last night, we realized that he's just a big jerk." Dove said, moving more logs into place.

"Yeah, we're just glad that we didn't end up with him as our team leader." Sky said, helping his partner.

"That's good to hear." I said.

 _Wow, these guys aren't all that bad. I guess it makes sense that they take after their leader, they're very loyal companions._

"Hey, Kody...Kody." Russel said.

"Sorry, I wasn't listening." I said, "What is it?"

"Did you hear that?" Russel asked.

"No." I replied, "What was it?"

A distant screeching noise could be heard.

"Now I hear it." I said, "But it's too far away for us to worry about right now. I just hope that the other students are okay."

* * *

Some time later, after setting up an underground ice box, water filters and more defenses, we were done with the day's work.

"Good job, team." I said.

"You know, RWBY should be getting back soon." Sky said.

Soon, we heard rustling in the bushes.

"That should be them now." I said.

Suddenly, the four teammates came hobbling out of the bush, Ruby toppled over.

"What's going on?!" Russel asked.

"Everybody, give them a hand!" I said.

My teammates and I helped the members of RWBY up, I was the one who helped Ruby.

"Ruby, what happened?" I asked.

"It's coming." Ruby said.

"What's coming?" I asked.

"A monster...and it's coming...for you." Ruby said before passing out.

 _A monster, or a Grimm, that's after me? Why?_

"Guys, get them to the tents!" I said, handing Ruby to Sky to carry, "I need to check on something."

I ran into the forest.

"Kody, where're you going?" Russel asked.

"To get some answers!" I said, running into the forest.

* * *

 **Okay, I hope you're all ready for the next chapter, because I'll be introducing the series' main antagonist (well, my archenemy that is).**

 **Powerhouse out.**


	6. Chapter 6: Manhunt

**Okay, time to meet my arch-enemy. I hope you're excited.**

* * *

 _Somebody's after me? Why would he hurt Team RWBY? I need to get some answers._

I walked through the woods, swords at the ready. Suddenly, a sword shot by my head and stuck itself into a tree.

"Who's there?!" I asked, readying my weapons.

A man wearing a strange, almost Grimm-like, mask walked through the shrubbery.

"There you are." the man said.

"Who are you? Why did you hurt Team RWBY?" I asked.

The man put his hand up and his sword dislodged itself from the tree and shot back into his hand.

"They were in the way." the man said, "You're who I want."

"Why?" I asked.

"You threaten the very world." the man said, "It's nothing personal, I'm just doing my job."

"If your job includes hurting innocents, then you're my enemy." I said, readying my swords.

"Well...if you think that you stand a chance, then you're dumber than I thought." the man said.

The man rushed at me, ready to slash. I put my swords up, blocking his sword. The man started to push me back, I guess he was stronger than I was. The man went for a kick to my gut, causing me to lose my breath and lower my guard.

"Pathetic." the man said, "You're even weaker than I thought."

The man went to stab me, but, suddenly, someone came in and blocked the blade. And that someone was my partner, Russell.

"Need some help?" Russell asked.

"You couldn't have come at a better time." I said, getting up.

Russell pushed the man back.

"So what's the deal with him?" Russell asked.

"I don't know, he just wants to kill me." I said.

"I'm going to make you pay for hurting our leader." Russell said.

"You're no threat to me." the man said.

Russell ran at the man, knives ready. But before he was within ten feet of him, he was thrown away by an invisible force.

"Russell!" I cried.

I began to get angry and ran at the man, rage in my soul (and I usually don't get angry, ever). The man scoffed and put his sword up, blocking my attacks.

 _This isn't working._

I gained some distance and transformed my swords into a rifle. I began to shoot at the man, but he blocked every bullet with his blade.

 _Man, this guy's good._

I decided to change strategies again and prepared my shield.

"At least you see that you don't stand a chance of attacking me." the man said.

The man ran at me and swung his swords. I put my shield up and blocked the attack. I decided to make a surprise attack and formed the psionic claws on my open hand, swinging them at the man. The man was taken aback by me getting a hit in. I apparently had cut through his Aura and his left leg was bleeding.

 _Whoa, those things are more dangerous than I thought._

"That...was a mistake." the man said.

The man put his hand up and I was lifted into the air.

 _Geez, does this guy have the Force or something?!_

I tried to move, but I couldn't.

"That will be quite enough." the man said, right before I got thrown next to Russell.

 _Ow. I need to get out of here, but I can't leave Russell behind._

"Now, any last words?" the man asked.

Suddenly, I got an idea.

"Yeah." I said, suddenly generating the psionic claws and cutting through some nearby trees, "Timber."

The trees fell towards the man, giving me time to grab Russell and make a break for it.

* * *

Some time later, we arrived back at the camp. I was still carrying Russell over my shoulder.

"Guys, Russell needs help!" I said.

I carried Russel over to Sky and Dove, who were watching over the beaten Team RWBY.

"What happened?" Sky asked.

"Some wacko with, I guess, a Telekinetic Semblance threw us all over the place." I said.

"What?" Dove asked.

"So, there's only three of us left?" Sky asked.

"Yeah." I said, "And if he could beat Team RWBY as easily as he did, we're scr-."

 _Nope, I don't say that._

"Messed." I said, correcting myself.

"What are we going to do?" Sky asked, "There's only three of us."

"Wait...this forest is full of other students." I said, "We just need to get them to help us."

"But we can't just leave RWBY and Russell here." Sky said, "And we can't go out alone."

"You won't." Yang said, getting up.

"Yang, you need to save your strength." I said.

"No can do." Yang replied, "That guy hurt my sister, and your partner, I'm going too. Besides, you can't do this alone."

I smiled.

"Okay. Dove, Sky, you guys stay here and keep an eye on Team RWBY." I said, "Yang and I will go to find the other students. If anything happens, signal us."

"Good plan." Sky said.

"Be safe." Dove said.

I nodded.

"Come on, Yang, let's get going." I said.

Yang and I left the camp to find other students in the forest as Sky and Dove remained to take care of RWB.

* * *

I continued to lead our trek through the woods, with Yang following behind.

"I wonder who that man was." I said, thinking out loud.

"Whoever he is, I'm not going to let him hurt anyone else." Yang said.

Moments later, a familiar sword shot by us and flew back in the direction it came from.

"RUN!" I said.

Yang and I began to run through the forest, picking up the pace as the sword would fly by and nearly hit us.

"Why do you run away?" the man asked, "Why do you deny what must be done?"

"Does that include hurting my friends and sister?!" Yang said.

Yang's eyes turned red.

"Yang, NO!" I said, grabbing the girl's arm and pulling her away, "Believe me, it's a bad idea!"

Yang calmed down enough so she could get back to running.

"We need to hide." I said.

"There!" Yang said, pointing to what appeared to be a nice hiding spot.

We dove into the spot and tumbled down a large hill, when we had stopped at the bottom, I was accidentally laying on top of the blonde.

"Oh jeez!" I exclaimed quietly, "I'm so sorry!"

"It's alright." Yang said, "It was an accident."

We heard the man approaching.

"Be quiet." I whispered to Yang.

We stayed silent, hoping for the man to leave.

"Looks like he escaped." the man said.

The man walked off, leaving us alone, allowing me to release a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness." I said, "We need to find some help."

We began to hear footsteps approaching.

"He's coming back." Yang whispered.

We stayed silent again. But, soon, someone was standing over our heads.

"Well, well, well." Cardin Winchester said, "Look who it is."

"Uh...hi..." I said.

Cardin's teammates approached us.

"Time for a little payback." Cardin said, reaching for me.

 _Oh no._

* * *

 **That was chapter 6, I hope you enjoyed. So, yeah, you'll get to see more on the antagonist later on.**

 **Feel free to leave a review, it would be greatly appreciated to see what you all think about this story.**

 **BTW, the reason I have Yang used in the pair in the cast list is because I'm most likely pairing myself with her. Not for the...fan service reasons, but for who she is.**

 **One last note: I have a poll on my profile for a future story in order to let the community make a choice for my story. And for my Adam Taurus story, I'm currently accepting submissions for Adam Taurus's teammates, but not his partner.**

 **Powerhouse out.**


	7. Chapter 7: Allies in Wooded Places

**Time for chapter 7. This is the final part of the Emerald Forest Survival arc.**

* * *

Cardin lifted me off of the ground with his big hands.

"Cardin, this isn't a good time." I said, being held by the collar of my shirt.

"You're right." Cardin said, "This is probably going to be the worst time of your life."

"No, I mean, seriously." I said, "There's a deranged lunatic after us."

"He's telling the truth." Yang said as she got up, "Don't make me hurt you."

Cardin scoffed.

"You're just a girl." Cardin said, "Stay out of this man's business."

"You asked for it." Yang said.

Cardin tightened his grip on me, ignoring Yang.

"Probably not the best idea." I said.

"Good, warn your friend before she gets herself hurt." Cardin said, readying a fist to punch me with.

"Oh, I wasn't talking to her." I said.

Cardin gave me a confused look right before Yang shot over, punching Cardin away and sending me into the air. Yang slid across the ground and caught me in her arms.

 _Well, this is just embarrassing._

"You okay?" Yang asked.

"Yes. Now could you put me down?" I asked, kind of blushing.

"Aw, but you're just adorable when your face turns all red like that." Yang said.

I turned my head away to hide my blushing shame.

Cardin got back up and looked our way.

"Sorry to break up this tender little love scene, but payback is long overdue." Cardin said.

"Well, sorry to disappoint." Yang said as she put me on her back instead.

"Yang, what are you...?" I asked.

Yang's gauntlets transformed into their short-range mode and they were aimed towards the ground.

"You might want to hold on." Yang said.

I knew what was about to happen and tightened my grip on Yang's shoulders. Yang fired her gauntlets, sending us into the sky right as Cardin was about to swing his mace at us, we barely made it out unscathed.

* * *

After a minute or so of riding on Yang's back through the air, we finally landed, although I was feeling a little queasy.

"Ohh..." I groaned.

"Oh come on, don't tell me you can't take a small flight." Yang said, transforming her gauntlets back to standby mode.

"Riding a Nevermore was one thing." I said, "Riding you as you shot your weapons every direction while we flew was what did it."

"Hey, what's the big problem?" Yang asked, "It got us out of there safely."

"Yeah." I said before looking up and through some nearby trees, "And it brought us to some help."

Yang and I ran past the trees and came out to see another base camp that was similar to our fort, it a bit smaller, yet more practical in design.

"I wonder who's staying here." Yang said.

"Let's find out." I said.

Yang and I approached the wood walls and I knocked. There was no response.

"Maybe no one's home." I said.

"We should probably check around." Yang said.

We pushed the makeshift door open and saw that the camp appeared to be recently abandoned. We closed the door when we entered.

"Either they're out hunting or something happened." I said.

Moments later, we heard the door begin to open.

"Quick, hide!" I whispered.

"Why?" Yang asked.

"Because this could be a camp that doesn't tolerate trespassers." I said.

"Good point." Yang replied.

Yang and I hid behind a makeshift box, I guess whoever was staying there wanted to store their stuff safely. We heard the door open and began to hear footsteps.

"What a hunt!" a familiar female voice said.

"I know that voice." I said.

"It was nice to see you so happy." another voice said, this one a male's.

I got up from behind the box.

"Hey, guys!" I said.

"Who's there?!" Jaune asked, turning towards me.

I put my hands up.

"I guess they don't recognize me." I said.

"Hey, I know that kid." Nora said.

"I do to." Ren said, "It's Kody."

"Well, if he's a friend of yours, then he's a friend of ours." Jaune said.

I let out a sigh of relief before Yang and I walked out to talk with JNPR.

"Why were you guys hiding behind our storage crate?" Jaune asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Nora asked, "They wanted some alone time."

"What?!" I replied, "No-no-no-no! We just didn't know who was coming and we thought it would be best to hide."

"Riiiiiight." Nora said.

I rolled my eyes before continuing our conversation.

"So, what are you guys doing here?" Jaune asked, "Where are your teammates?"

"That's the problem." I said, "A crazy person with telekinetic powers is out to kill me, and he hurt Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Russell in the process."

"Oh my." Pyrrha said.

"We risked our necks to get help." I said, "And you guys happened to be the first people we ran into, other than Team CYAN."

"And where are they?" Ren asked.

"They tried to beat me up as payback for getting payback for them pranking us." I said.

"Now that that's cleared up..." Pyrrha said, "What can we do to help?"

I smiled at JNPR's willingness to help, but we saw a small explosion in the sky from over by our camp.

"What was that?" Jaune asked.

"A signal!" I said, "They're in trouble!"

I ran off to help my friends.

"Wait!" Yang said, catching up with me.

"Jaune, what are we going to do?" Pyrrha asked.

* * *

Some time later, I saw that our camp was in site.

"Please be okay, please be okay, please be okay." I said.

I peeked over the wall and saw Sky and Dove in the mysterious man's invisible grip.

"Where were they heading?" the man asked.

"We won't talk." Sky said.

"Fine." the man said, dropping Dove and pulling his sword out, "You'll go first."

"No!" Dove said.

The man used his Semblance to send Dove flying and approached Sky. The man readied his blade, he was going for the kill.

"STOP!" I yelled, running at the man.

"Oh, you decided to show up." the man said, "Now stop right there."

"Why?" I asked, stopping as I drew my sword.

"Because if you don't give yourself up to me, I'll kill your friend here." the man said.

I hesitated for a moment, thinking about what to do.

 _Why am I worried? Sky's a fictional character. Am I...I..._

"I see that you care for your friends." the man said.

 _He's right. For some reason, I now feel a connection to these fictional characters._

"But that care will only get you and everyone you care about hurt." the man said, "Unless you come with me."

"Fine, but let them go first." I said.

"A wise choice." the man said.

The man threw Sky out of the way with his powers.

"Now, drop your weapon." the man said.

"Yeah...about that..." I said.

The man didn't have time to think about my choice, because a grenade with a heart painted on it hit him in the back and sent him flying. The man landed near the tent Russell and I shared.

"You lied!" the man said as he got up.

"Actually, I never agreed to anything." I said as Yang and Team JNPR entered the camp.

"You will pay for your deceit!" the man said.

The man lifted his open hand up and lifted some of the logs from out wall up, aiming the pointed ends at us. The made a forwards waving motion with his hand and the logs flew our way.

"Watch out!" I said.

Pyrrha and Ren dodged the logs, Nora and Yang smashed some to pieces, I sliced through a few, and Jaune put his shield up and got hit away.

"I'm alright!" Jaune said.

The man pulled his sword out and rushed at me; I put my weapon up to block his blade. When he slammed his sword into mine, he launched it from my hand.

"Uh oh." I said.

The man swung his sword down at me and I barely dodged.

 _I've got to have another weapon somewhere!_

I looked at my bracelets and saw a button on each one. I pressed the buttons and, moments later, small metal plates came out of the bracelets, forming flexible, metal gloves.

"Sweet." I said.

The man swung his sword again, but I blocked it with my recently-discovered gloves.

"You're just full of tricks." the man said.

"Thanks." I said smugly.

The man went with his open fist and hit me in the face before kicking me away.

"But so am I." the man said.

Nora ran at the man, hammer at the ready. But Nora was unprepared for the man's Semblance, which he used to send Nora flying.

"Nora!" Ren said.

I seized the opportunity and got my sword back.

"Pyrrha, Yang, group attack!" I said.

Pyrrha and Yang nodded and ran at the man the same time I did.

"Hmph." the man scoffed.

The man jumped up and away from us, landing some distance away.

"You are no match for me." the man said.

"We'll see about that!" I said.

We all ran at the man. The man, in an attempt to counter us, used his Semblance to throw more of our walls at us. We all dodged, but I was unprepared for the man's attack right after that. The man knocked me down and stood over me with his sword ready. I could feel my Aura disappear as I slammed into the ground.

"My work is done." the man said.

"NO!" Yang said.

The man thrust his sword down at my torso (pretty much exactly as Adam did to Blake), it was the most pain I had ever felt in my life.

"AGH!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

Yang's eyes closed as her hair began to glow.

"What?" the man asked, "Are you sad that I killed your friend?"

"No..." Yang said, "I'm furious."

Yang's eyes shot open, they were now red, and she ran at the man at an incredible speed, hitting him with Ember Celica and launching him into our defensive wall.

"A lucky shot." the man said, "But no matter, my mission is complete."

The man ran off before anyone could do anything.

"Kody!" Yang said, running to my side.

Yang knelt down and lifted my head up.

"Stay with us!" Yang said, "Don't go!"

"I'll call for help." Pyrrha said, pulling her Scroll out.

My eyes began to close as I suffered from my injury.

"Kody..." Yang asked, shaking me back and forth, "Kody!"

My eyes closed, leaving all I saw as darkness.

* * *

 _Well...I suppose that's it. It was a fun ride. But I guess I'm going to wake up in my own room now._

"He's waking up." I heard a very faint voice say.

I opened my eyes, expecting to see my room, but, instead, I saw what appeared to be a hospital.

"I hope he's alright." I heard another faint voice say.

I turned my head in the direction of the voice and saw my teammates and Teams RWBY and JNPR.

"Kody, you alright?" Russell asked.

"Yeah..." I said, groaning.

"You sustained quite an injury." Ren said, "You almost didn't pull through."

"How...how did I survive?" I asked.

"We were lucky that Beacon had a medical team on hand, in case anything like this happened." Sky said.

"But nobody ever expected anything like what happened to happen." Russell said.

"I suppose so." I said.

"The medical staff said that you should be fine by tomorrow morning." Ruby said.

"That's good news." I said.

"Okay, time for you to go." the doctor said, "It's getting late and the patient needs some rest."

"Okay." Russell said, "See you later, Kody."

"See you." I said.

Everyone got up to leave, but Yang approached me and gave me a quick hug.

"Get better soon." Yang said before letting me go and joining the others.

Everyone left the room and the doctor turned the lights off before leaving herself.

 _Huh. That guy was right, I am beginning to care for them._

I fell asleep, happy that I survived the day's events.

* * *

 **So, that was the biggest chapter so far for this story, I hope you all liked this arc. Don't worry though, things are very far from over.**

 **Feel free to leave a review on what you thought about the arc, the individual chapters, or the story as a whole.**

 **BTW, the story picture is art I drew of myself in the story.**

 **Powerhouse out.**


	8. Chapter 8: A Friendly Spar

**Okay, this chapter is going to be very story centered.**

* * *

It had been about a week since the incident in the Emerald Forest. Not much had happened since then and, before I knew it, the field trip to the Forever Fall Forest was coming up.

"So who's excited?" Ruby asked as her team and mine walked out of our classroom to the cafeteria for lunch.

"For what?" I asked.

"The trip to the Forest of Forever Fall that's coming up." Blake said.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that." I said.

"Don't worry, it happens to the best of us." Yang said.

"Speaking of the best, who do you guys think is going to win the tournament?" Dove asked.

"That's hard to decide now." Ruby said, "But we're definitely going to compete. How about you guys?"

"Oh...uh." I said nervously.

 _I hadn't thought about that. Quick, say something._

"Sure." I said, "I guess it would be pretty fun."

"Cool." Yang said, "I hope we don't have to face each other."

"Yeah, we'd probably get our butts handed to us." I joked.

After a moment, Ruby walked up to me.

"Hey, Kody, can I talk to you for a moment?" Ruby asked.

"Sure, what do you need?" I asked.

"Well, you remember how you and Yang set out to find help to stop that weird guy?" Ruby asked.

"All too well." I replied, holding my gut.

"Well, I noticed how Yang was feeling almost as concerned for you as your teammates were." Ruby said.

"It's not weird." I replied, "You and her were two of the first people I met here."

"No, it's not that." Ruby said, "I think that Yang likes you."

"What?!" I asked in a whisper.

"I don't know for sure yet." Ruby said, "I could just be on a wild goose chase."

"Quite possibly." I said.

 _Oh geez, I didn't think that things would change like this!_

As I pondered on what was going through my head, we continued towards the cafeteria, eventually being joined by JNPR.

* * *

Soon, we were in the cafeteria, listening to Nora's "story".

"So, there we were, in the middle of the night." Nora said.

"It was day." Ren corrected.

"We were surrounded by Ursa." Nora said.

"They were Beowolves." Ren corrected.

"Dozens of them!" Nora said, standing up.

"Two of them." Ren said, correcting Nora one last time.

"But they were no match. And, in the end, Ren and I took them down and made a boatload of Lien selling Ursa skin rugs." Nora said, sitting back down.

Ren sighed.

"She's been having the recurring dream for nearly a month now." Ren said.

After a second, Pyrrha spoke up to Jaune, who was being distant at the moment.

"Jaune, are you okay?" Pyrrha asked.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Why?" Jaune asked.

"It's just that you seem a little..." Ruby said, trying to find the words, "...not okay."

"Guys, I'm fine." Jaune said, "Seriously...look."

Jaune smiled right before we heard Cardin laughing at Velvet Scarletina. This made me mad.

"Jaune, Cardin has been picking on you since the first week of school." Pyrrha said.

"Uh who? Cardin Winchester?" Jaune asked, "Nah, he just likes to mess around, you know, practical jokes."

"He's a bully." Ruby and I said in sync.

"Pfft, oh please. Name one time he's 'bullied' me." Jaune said, making air quotes.

Team RWBY and rest of JNPR recollected all of the times that Jaune was picked on by Cardin, including when he was launched out of school in his own locker.

"I didn't land far from the school." Jaune said.

"That's an understatement." I said.

"Jaune, you know that if you ever need help you can just ask." Pyrrha said.

"Oh!" Nora said, standing up, "We'll break his legs!"

"I'm all for that!" I said.

Yang, Blake and Weiss gave me a weird look.

"What?" I asked, "I was only kidding."

"Guys, really, it's fine." Jaune said, "Besides, it's not like he's only a jerk to me, he's a jerk to everyone."

"Ow! That hurts!" Velvet said as Cardin pulled on her rabbit ears, laughing, "Please, stop."

"Ha, ha, ha. I told you it was real." Cardin said.

The rest of CYAN began to laugh too.

 _Alright, that does it_.

I stood up, looking pretty miffed off.

"Where are you going?" Russell asked.

"I have to put an end to this." I said.

I walked towards Cardin, very angry.'

"Cardin, why do you have to be this way?" I asked.

"Why? Do I need a reason?" Cardin asked, still pulling on Velvet's ears.

"Let her go." I said.

"Pfft." Cardin scoffed, "Fine."

Cardin let go of Velvet's ears and she backed off.

"Now, I'd like it if you stopped bullying the others." I said.

"This might not be a good idea." Jaune said.

"Jaune, not now." I said.

"You know what I think?" Cardin asked.

Cardin stood up and faced towards me.

"I think that you're all talk." Cardin said.

"You think so?" I asked.

"Yeah, all you've ever done it run away from me." Cardin said, right as he grabbed the collar on my uniform, "Now, what are you going to do when you can't run away?"

I tried to touch the ground, but I was up just high enough so I couldn't.

"So lively." Glynda Goodwitch said as she approached us, "How splendid."

 _Uh...this didn't happen in Canon._

"Uh...hi, Professor." I said meekly.

"Asking yourself if you have what it takes to succeed. Honing your skills and trusting in the resulting power. All are important for a Huntsman or Huntress." Glynda said, "But power comes with responsibility."

 _Amen to that._

"Power should only be exercised when it is needed. And where it is needed." Glynda said.

"I see. So we can do whatever we want, as long as we're honing our skills?" Cardin asked, still holding me up.

"Yes...in fact...why don't I give you two an opportunity to do so?" Glynda asked.

"Uh...could he put me down first?" I asked.

* * *

Right after lunch, we were all brought to the sparring arena that Jaune had fought Cardin in earlier that day. Cardin and I were now in our combat clothes.

"So, how do you feel?" Cardin asked.

"Angry." I said, "And you won't like me when I'm angry."

"Heh, sounds like you, Yang." Nora said.

Cardin and I prepared for battle, but I was uneasy, thinking about stuff.

 _If Yang likes me, that could totally change Canon. And this fight could change things too. I need to get my head straight._

"Hey, look, the leader of Team CRDL's all show!" Cardin said.

"I...uh..." I stammered.

"Go on, Kody, who him who's boss!" Yang said.

I heard Yang and the others cheering me on, this calmed me.

 _Thanks, guys._

"Begin!" Glynda said.

Cardin ran at me, ready to swing his mace through me. I did a backwards somersault to avoid the initial attack. After dodging, I ran at Cardin and hit him with my sword as I passed him.

"You're not so..." I said, before being interrupted by Cardin kicking me in the back and knocking me down.

Cardin pulled his mace out of the ground and swung it towards me, I put my swords up to block against the attack. I could feel the shockwave that came from Cardin's mace.

"Heh, it doesn't take much to knock you down." Cardin said.

"Maybe." I said, right before kicking Cardin in the legs and causing him to trip over.

I got back up and readied my weapons.

"But it takes more than that to keep me down." I said.

Cardin got up and his Aura began to glow.

"Uh...what's going on?" I asked, almost panicking.

The jewel on the tip of Cardin's mace began to glow like his Aura did. Cardin lifted the mace up and slammed it into the arena, sending a huge shockwave out that launched me away and knocked my swords out of bounds.

"Uh oh." I said.

"Now that you've been disarmed, you have nothing to hide behind." Cardin said.

"Oh, how little you know." I said.

Cardin gave me a weird look right before I pressed the buttons on my bracelets and activated the gloves.

"Big deal." Cardin said.

I smirked as I put some vials of Fire Dust into the slots that I had found not too long ago and, moments later, my gloves were now flaming fists of fury.

"Neat trick." Cardin said.

I ran towards Cardin, preparing to go on the offensive. Cardin swung his weapon at me, but I slid under and began to hit him with the fire fists. Cardin would swing his mace at me, but I would dodge it and counterattack. Cardin's Aura was now in the orange.

"Looks like this is over!" I said.

"For you!" Cardin said.

Cardin punched me in the face, stunning me. He then began to have his Aura and the jewel glow as he hit me in the torso, sending me flying.

 _What am I going to do? If I land outside of the arena, I'll lose._

I suddenly got an idea. I switched the Fire Dust out for Wind Dust and pushed with both fists.

"I learned this trick from a friend!" I said as I put Blast Dust into my right glove.

I shot towards Cardin with intense speed and, before he could counter, I punched him with the Blast Dust, sending him flying and depleting his Aura to the red.

"Yes! A double-whammy!" Russell said.

I smiled.

"Maybe that will teach you a lesson." I said to Cardin.

Cardin only growled at me as I walked off of the arena.

 _But, honestly, I hope you don't...not yet. For the story's sake._

After celebrating my victory, we all headed out to our next class.

* * *

 **That was a nice filler chapter to write, I just wanted to do something simple for the two-part Forest of Forever Fall arc. I liked writing this chapter because of all of the simple interactions between characters, I usually can't find space for that kind of stuff.**

 **If you noticed, a lot of the stuff involving my battle with Cardin is a reference to the RWBY Manga.**

 **BTW, I am planning on possibly turning this into an animated series over the summer. If anyone wants to audition for characters, please check my profile and see who's available and the Gmail address to send your video audition to. If anyone wants to join, please let me know.**

 **Powerhouse out.**


	9. Chapter 9: A Red Sappy Situation

**Time for the field trip to the Forever Fall Forest, let's see how things will go this time. Sorry for not posting this sooner, I forgot I had it.**

* * *

The bullhead we were in began to slow its speed as we approached the Forever Fall Forest, but I was tense.

 _I hope I didn't end up causing Cardin to turn over a new leaf, at least yet that is. If that happens, Jaune might not learn that he can do things on his own._

"Hey, you doing alright?" Russell asked.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm alright." I replied.

The bullhead landed in a large clearing before opening the doors up and allowing us to follow Glynda Goodwitch out.

"Yes, students, the Forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful. But we are not here to sightsee. Professor Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest. And I'm here to make sure none of you die while doing so." Glynda Goodwitch said before stopping and turning around.

The group stopped. Jaune accidentally bumped into Cardin's back as he carried seven jars with him for the sap.

 _Wait, why does he have seven jars? He should have six._

"Each of you is to gather one jar's worth of red sap. However, this forest is full of the creatures of Grimm, so be sure to stay by your teammates." Glynda Goodwitch said, "We will rendezvous back here at four 'o clock. Have fun!"

Jaune tried to sneak off, but he was grabbed by Cardin.

"Come on, buddy, let's go." Cardin said.

Jaune hesitated for a bit as he watched his team walk off, but he went with Cardin anyway.

 _Well, at least it looks like things should play out the same as before._

The other students and I walked off to find some sap.

* * *

A while later, we found a nice patch of trees and began to collect the sap. I took a quick glance over my shoulder to check if Team CYAN and Jaune were where they should be. Thank goodness that they were.

 _It looks like I got lucky this time._

"Hey, this stuff is pretty good." Russell said, taking some sap from his jar.

"Russell, don't eat our homework assignment." I said as I filled my jar.

Dove and Sky had a quick laugh at my wit (which believe me, isn't very good). As I went back to filling my jar, I didn't notice that Cardin wasn't planning on hitting Pyrrha with the sap this time. As soon as I finished filling my jar, I got up and turned around, just in time for a jar of tree sap to hit me in the face. The impact knocked me down.

"Kody, you alright?!" Russell asked.

"Yeah, I'll be okay." I replied.

 _Thank this world for Aura._

"I wonder where that came from." Sky said.

Moments later, we heard a bunch of birds flying off, this got Pyrrha's attention.

"Pyrha, you okay?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah..." Pyrrha said, not noticing that Nora was drinking her tree sap until it was too late, "NORA!"

When I got back up, I began to get suspicious.

 _Why was that jar thrown at me?_

Moments later, we heard a loud roar.

"Did you guys hear that?" Ruby asked.

"Sounds like trouble." I said.

Moments later, the members of Team CYAN, other than Cardin, ran past Ruby and Pyrrha.

"Big Ursa! BIG URSA!" Nicolas cried as the team ran past the students.

Nicolas ran into Yang.

"What? Where?" Yang asked as she picked Nicolas up.

"Back there! It's got Cardin!" Nicolas said.

Pyrrha dropped her jar.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha said.

"Yang, you and Blake go get Professor Goodwitch!" Ruby said as Yang let Nicolas go.

"You two, go with them. There could be more." Pyrrha said as Yang and Blake ran to find Glynda.

"We'll go with you three." I said.

Ruby nodded and we ran off to help Jaune and Cardin.

* * *

We arrived at the clearing with the huge Ursa, Jaune and Cardin.

"He wasn't kidding." I said, looking at how much bigger the beast looked up close.

"Oh no." Pyrrha said.

The Ursa closed in on Cardin and swung it's paw, only for the leader of CYAN to be saved by Jaune. Weiss, Russell and Sky prepared to step in.

"Wait." Pyrrha said.

We watched as Jaune did battle with the beast. As the fight went on, the Ursa did more and more damage to Jaune. But then something happened that I definitely don't remember in Canon. A bunch of smaller Ursa entered the clearing.

"What are they doing here?" I asked, preparing my weapons.

Ruby looked over at my purple face.

"It's the sap!" Ruby said, "I guess that more sap would be easier smell!"

"That's not good." I said, "Jaune can take care of the big guy. Pyrrha, you wait here in case Jaune needs your help!"

Pyrrha nodded as Ruby, Weiss, my team and I ran to fend off the other Grimm. I lashed out at one of the smaller Ursa with my swords, swiftly slicing it's arms off. Another one ran at me, but Ruby cut through it with Crescent Rose.

I saw that Russell was having a bit of trouble with a group of Grimm, so I ran on over and jumped up, ready to attack the monster. But I was unaware that another Ursa had jumped up, tackling me to the ground. I moved my head to avoid the beast's jaws, it nearly took a bite out of me. I created psionic blades on my fingertips and used them to slice the monster in two, letting me get back up.

 _I hope Jaune's alright._

I looked over at Jaune and watched as Pyrrha used her Semblance to move Jaune's shield to protect him. Jaune went on to slice the Ursa's head off. The other Ursa we were fighting saw their alpha get killed and ran off.

"Whew...that was close." I said, putting my weapons away.

Ruby and Weiss saw what Pyrrha did.

"Uh...what?" Ruby asked.

"How did you...?" Weiss asked.

"Well...Ruby has her speed...you have your Glyphs. My Semblance...is polarity." Pyrrha said.

"Woah, you can control poles." Ruby said.

"No, you dunce, it means she has control over magnetism." Weiss said.

"Magnets are cool too." Ruby said.

Pyrrha began to walk off.

"Wait, where are you going?" Weiss asked.

"Yeah, we gotta tell them what happened." Ruby said.

"We could. Or, perhaps, we could just keep it our little secret." Pyrrha said.

I walked over to Cardin after his conversation with Jaune was over.

"So, I presume that you threw that jar at my face." I said, looking at Cardin with my red sap splotched face.

"Yeah...I...uh...I was being dumb." Cardin said as he scratched the back of his head, "I'm sorry."

"Well you should-I'm sorry...what?" I asked, "Are you pulling my leg?"

"No, I'm being pretty honest here." Cardin said, "After being picked on like that, and being shown a thing or two by you and Jaune, I can see that I was being stupid and mean."

"That's an understatement." I said, hesitant to accept Cardin's apology.

"Is there anything I can do for you to trust me?" Cardin asked.

I sighed.

"If you really are being sincere, you can start by not bullying the other students." I said.

"No problem." Cardin said.

I smiled for a bit, right before Cardin grabbed me in a headlock.

"I thought you were being honest!" I said.

"I am, but that won't stop me from doing an occasional prank or two." Cardin said, giving me a noogie before letting me go.

"I can live with that." I said.

"Although, I did notice that things went exactly as you planned." Cardin said, "Almost like you knew what was going to happen."

"Good planning I guess." I said, trying to keep him from getting suspicious.

Cardin walked off to find his teammates as Yang, Blake, Ren and Nora came back.

"You guys alright?" Yang asked.

"Yeah, we're fine." I said, approaching the group.

The moment Yang looked at my sappy face, she burst out laughing.

"What?" I asked, "What is it?!"

"You look so ridiculous!" Yang said.

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms.

"I'm sorry, I just couldn't help it." Yang said, calming down.

Nora stared at my face weirdly.

"Nora, what are you doing?" I asked.

Nora licked her lips and stared at me hungrily.

"Nora, back off." I said as I stepped back.

For every step I took back, Nora took anther one towards me.

"Nora...please...stop." I said, begging Nora.

I made a break for it, but Nora shot after me. I only outran Nora for a few seconds before she tackled me and began to lick my face.

"Nora-Nora-pleh!" I said as the hyperactive girl licked the sap off of my face, "Disgusting!"

Everyone began to laugh, except for Nora and me, as this field trip came to a close.

* * *

 **So, that was the second part of the Forest of Forever Fall arc. Sorry this chapter was mostly a rehash of the scene from the show, but I didn't have much to work with.**

 **Powerhouse out.**


	10. Chapter 10: The Runaways

**Okay, time for the Vol 1. finale arc. I hope you enjoy what happens. FYI, most of this is taken from Episode 9 of Volume 1. Due to me forgetting to post the previous chapter earlier, I've decided to post this one early.**

* * *

My team and I walked with Team RWBY through the Vytal Festival grounds. Ruby wanted to invite JNPR but they were busy, so they asked us to come along instead.

"I swear that guy is everywhere." I said, pointing to Old Man Shopkeep.

"You know, somehow I feel like that too." Russell said.

"The Vytal Festival! Oh, this is absolutely wonderful!" Weiss said.

"I don't think I've seen you smile this much, Weiss." Ruby said, "It's kind of weirding me out."

"Ditto." I said.

"How could you not smile?" Weiss asked, "A festival dedicated to the cultures of the world! There will be dances, parades, a tournament! Oh, the amount of planning and organization that goes into this event is simply breathtaking!"

"Way to go for ruining it for me." I said.

"Quiet you!" Weiss scolded.

"As you wish, ice queen." I said.

"Ice queen...I like that." Yang said.

"Remind me why we're spening our Friday afternoon visiting the stupid docks." Yang said.

"Ugh...they smell like fish." Ruby said as she plugged her nose.

"I never liked fish." Dove said.

"I heard that students visiting from Vacuo will be arriving by ship today." Weiss said, "And, as a representative of Beacon, I feel that it is my solemn duty to welcome them to this fine kingdom."

"She wants to spy on them so she'll have the upper hand in the tournament." Blake said.

"You can't prove that." Weiss said.

"Really, because other than us, you guys are the only team from Beacon here." I said.

Weiss gave me a glare as Ruby noticed something.

"Woah." Ruby said, turning towards a smashed-up Dust shop.

We all walked over to the two police officers investigating the crime scene.

"What happened here?" Ruby asked.

"Robbery. Second Dust shop to be hit this week." the bearded cop said, "This place is turning into a jungle."

"Oh, that's terrible." Yang said.

"Yeah." I said.

"They left all of the money again." the spiky-haired cop said, gaining Ruby's attention and mine.

"It doesn't make a lick of sense." the bearded cop said, "Who needs that much Dust?"

"I don't know, you know what I mean?" the spiky-haired cop replied.

"You thinking the...uh...White Fang?" the bearded cop asked.

"Yeah, I'm thinking we don't get paid enough." the spiky-haired cop said as he took his glasses off.

"Hmph, the White Fang, what an awful bunch of degenerates." Weiss said.

"What's your problem?" Blake asked.

"My problem?" Weiss asked, "I simply don't care for the criminally insane."

"The White Fang is hardly a bunch of psychopaths, they're a collection of misguided Faunas." Blake said, crossing her arms.

"Misguided?" Weiss asked, "They want to wipe humanity off the face of the planet."

"So that means that they're very misguided." Blake said, "Either way, it doesn't explain why they would rob a Dust shop in the middle of downtown Vale."

"Hmm, Blake's got a point." Ruby said, "Besides, the police never caught that Torchwick guy I ran into a few months ago, maybe it was him."

"That still doesn't change the fact the White Fang are a bunch of scum." Weiss said, "Those Faunas only know how to lie, cheat, and steal."

"You know, they might hate humanity for a reason." I said with contempt.

"Oh, and I suppose you do?" Weiss asked.

"As a matter of fact..." I said.

"Hey, stop that Faunas!" a man yelled over on the ship in the harbor.

We all ran over to the dock and saw Sun running across the ship from some sailors.

"Thanks for the ride, guys!" Sun said, right before jumping off of the boat and using his tail to latch onto a light pole.

"You no-good stowaway!" a sailor yelled.

"Hey, a no-good stowaway would have been caught, I'm a great stowaway." Sun said unpeeling a banana, right before dodging a rock.

"Hey! Get down from there this instant." the bearded cop said.

Sun threw the banana peel at the bearded cop's face and jumped away. Sun then began to run up the stairs that led from the dock up to the street. Sun then ran by us, winking at Blake as he went.

"Well, Weiss, you wanted to see the competition, and there it goes." Yang said.

"Quick! We have to observe him!" Weiss said.'

We chased Sun, with Blake bringing up the rear, eventually turning a corner. Weiss ran into Penny and accidentally knocked both of them down, letting Sun get away.

"No! He got away!" Weiss said.

"Uh...Weiss?" Yang asked, pointing to Penny.

"Aah!" Weiss exclaimed, getting off of Penny.

"Salutations!" Penny said, waving to us.

"Um...hello." Ruby said.

"Are you...okay?" Yang asked.

"I'm wonderful, thank you for asking." Penny said.

Everyone gave each other confused looks, except for me.

"Do you wanna get up?" Yang asked.

"Yes!" Penny said.

Penny leapt up and everyone took a step back.

"My name is Penny." Penny said, "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Hi, Penny, I'm Ruby." Ruby said.

"I'm Weiss." Weiss said.

"Blake." Blake said.

"Are you sure you didn't hit your head?" Yang asked, right before Blake hit her, "Oh, I'm Yang."

"The name's Russell." Russell said.

"Sky's my name." Sky said.

"I'm Dove." Dove said.

"Hey there, I'm Kody." I said.

"It's a pleasure to meet you!" Penny restated.

"You already said that." Weiss said.

"So I did." Penny said.

"Well, sorry for running into you." Weiss said.

"Take care, friend." Ruby said as we began to walk off.

"She was...weird." Yang said after we walked for a bit.

"Now, where did that Fauns riffraff run off to?" Weiss asked.

"He is not..." I said right before Penny stood in front of us.

"What did you call me?" Penny asked.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I definitely didn't think you heard me." Yang protested.

"No. Not you." Penny said right before walking past us and in front of Ruby, "You."

"Me? I...I don't know what I uh...?" Ruby asked.

"You called me _friend_ , am I really your friend?" Penny asked.

"Umm..." Ruby said.

Ruby looked at her and my teammates, all of them were visually telling her "no."

"Yeah, sure...why not?" Ruby asked.

Our teammates all fell down.

"Sensational!" Penny said, "We can paint our nails, and try on clothes, and talk about cute boys!"

"Oh...was it like this when you met me?" Ruby asked to Weiss.

"No, she seems far more coordinated." Weiss said.

"So, what are you doing in Vale?" Yang asked.

"I'm here to fight in the tournament." Penny said.

"Wait, you're fighting the tournament?" Weiss asked.

"I'm combat ready!" Penny said.

"Forgive me, but you hardly look the part." Weiss said.

"Says the girl wearing a dress." Blake said.

"Yeah." I said, walking next to Blake.

I went for a low-five movement, but Blake didn't agree.

"It's a combat skirt." Weiss said.

"Yeah." Ruby said, giving Weiss a low-five.

"Showoff." I said.

"Wait a minute." Weiss said, approaching Penny, "If you're here for the tournament, does that mean you know that monkey-tailed rapscallion?"

Blake and I both began to get angry.

 _I know that I've seen this before, but I do feel more now that I'm seeing it for myself._

"The who?" Penny asked.

"The filthy Faunas from the boat!" Weiss said, holding a crudely drawn picture of Sun.

At that moment, Blake and I snapped.

"Why do you keep saying that?" Blake asked.

"Huh?" Weiss asked.

"Stop calling him a rapscallion, stop calling him a degenerate!" Blake said, "He's a person!"

"I have to agree with Blake here." I said, unable to take it anymore.

"Oh, I'm sorry, would you like me to stop referring to the trash can as a trash can? Or this lamp post as a lamp post?" Weiss asked.

"Stop it!" Blake said.

"Stop what? He clearly broke the law!" Weiss said, "Given time, he'll probably just join up with those other Faunas in the White Fang!"

"That does it!" I said, marching right in front of Weiss, "Why don't you shut up your petty little mouth before I do it for you?"

"You wouldn't dare touch a member of the Schnee family." Weiss growled.

I poked Weiss hard in her shoulder as Blake walked off.

"I just did." I said.

My teammates, Ruby, and Yang were all surprised at my outburst. Penny didn't understand what exactly was going on. I stomped off, pretty much following Blake.

"How dare you talk to me like that!" Weiss said, stomping after us and looking at Blake, "I'm your teammate."

"You are a judgmental, little girl!" Blake said.

"What in the world makes you say that?!" Weiss asked.

"It's the fact that you're clearly stereotyping the Faunas!" I said.

"Okay, let's go, Kody." Russell said as my teammates dragged me off.

"Thanks for brining us along." Dove said, thanking Ruby and Yang as we walked off.

* * *

Some time later, back in our dorm, I was sitting on my bed, still sore from my outburst.

"What was up with that, Kody?" Russell asked.

"What?" I asked.

"Your outburst earlier, you almost never get angry." Sky said.

"Let's just say that Weiss pushed me over the brink." I said.

"Why were you so fired up about her insulting the Faunas?" Dove asked, "Not that I have anything against them or anything."

"Why aren't you? They're mistreated." I said, "Big deal, they have fox ears or a cheetah tail, they're pretty much the same as us. They don't deserve the punishment humanity brings upon them."

"Were one of your family members a Faunas or something?" Russell asked.

I had a sudden realization and, in a moment, I ran out of our dorm and down the halls of Beacon.

"Boss, where are you going!?" Russell asked.

 _My family! I can't believe I haven't even thought about them in the last few months! My mom, my dad, my brothers! I forgot about them all! How could I?!_

I continued to run down the halls, passing by RWBY's dorm.

"Where's he going?" Yang asked.

"Boss, come back!" Russell said, running past the dorm.

"What's happening?" Ruby asked.

"We don't know." Sky said, "He just started running."

"Hmph...maybe he's really a Faunas and went to go join up with Blake." Weiss said.

Sky looked concerned and continued the chase.

* * *

I ran into the courtyard, forgetting who was there. I continued to run through the courtyard, accidentally bumping into Sun.

"Woah, who was that?" Sun asked.

Sun and Blake turned towards me.

"What are you doing here, Kody?" Blake asked.

"I don't know." I said in tears.

"Well, maybe you can come with us." Sun said, "It seems like you could use some help right now. Is that alright with you?"

Blake nodded.

Without thinking much, I decided to follow Sun and Blake, forgetting that I was leaving my team behind, and unaware that someone was watching me.

"So...you finally realized..." the mysterious man from the Emerald Forest said as he watched from above, "...You don't belong here."

The man hopped off as my teammates ran into the courtyard, losing me.

* * *

 **That was chapter 10 of Volume 1. There will be two more for this volume. I hope you look forward to what happens next. Sorry that most of the stuff here was from the episode, but I couldn't find much places to alter stuff, except at the end. BTW, there is a poll on my profile that I would like everyone to vote on.**

 **Please review, I want to know what all of you think of this story.**

 **Powerhouse out.**


	11. Chapter 11: A Forgotten Heritage

**Okay, time for things to start to pick up again, I hope you are all ready to see what happens. BTW, I am going to use third-person perspective when I am not in the scene. Sorry for not uploading sooner, forgot I had already written this.**

* * *

My partner, Russell, woke up and checked my bed to see if I was home, I wasn't, and I knew it.

* * *

"They've been gone all weekend." Ruby said as my teammates walked with her, Weiss, and Yang.

"Blake's a big girl, I'm sure she can handle herself." Weiss said.

"Our leader can handle anything," Russell said with hope.

"Weiss, come on, she's one of our teammates." Yang said.

"Is she?" Weiss asked, "We all heard what she said, and we all saw Kody run off with her."

"Weiss." Ruby said.

"Maybe they are, maybe they aren't." Yang said, "Either way, they're missing and we need to find them."

"A member of the White Fang, right underneath our noses." Weiss said.

"I just hope they're okay." Ruby said.

"Same here." Russell said.

* * *

Sun, Blake, and I were all sitting on the balcony of a restaurant, but I was at another table, off to the side, at least remembering Blake and Sun's conversation.

"So..." Blake said as she put her teacup down, "you want to know more about me."

"Finally, she speaks." Sun said, "Nearly two days and you've given me nothing but small talk and weird looks."

Blake gave Sun a weird look.

"Yeah, like that." Sun said before turning towards me, "And you've been awfully quiet."

"Sun, are you familiar with the White Fang?" Blake asked.

"Of course, I don't think that there's a Faunas on the planet who's never heard of them." Sun said, "Stupid, wholler-than-now creeps who use force to get whatever they want, a bunch of freaks if you ask me."

"I was once a member of the White Fang." Blake said.

Sun almost choked on his tea.

"Wait a minute, you were a member of the White Fang?" Sun asked.

"That's right. I was a member for most of my life actually, you could almost say I was born into it." Blake said, "Back then, things were different. In the ashes of war, the White Fang was meant to be a symbol of peace and unity between humans and the Faunas. Of course, despite being promised equality, the Faunas were subjected to discrimination and hate. Humanity still thought of us as lesser beings, and so, the White Fang rose up as the voice of our people. And I was there, I was at the front of every rally, I took part in every boycott, and I actually thought we were making a difference. But I was just a youthful optimist. Then, five years ago, our leader stepped down and a new one took his place. A new leader, with a new way of thinking. Suddenly, our peaceful protests were being replaced by organized attacks. We were setting fire to shops that refused to serve us, hijacking cargo from companies that used Faunas labor, and the worst part was: it was working. We were being treated like equals, but not of respect, out of fear."

Blake put her cup down before continuing.

"So, I left, I decided I no longer wanted to use my skills to aid in their violence. And, instead, I would dedicate my life to becoming a Huntress. So here I am, a criminal hiding in plain view, all with the help of a little black bow." Blake said as she moved her cat ears, moving the bow.

"So, have you told your friends any of this?" Sun asked.

Blake gave a look that pretty much meant "no".

"Okay, and how about you?" Sun asked, turning towards me, "What's your story?"

"Me?" I asked, "Well, I'll just say that it's complicated."

"Well, what is it?" Sun asked.

"It's about my family and me being here." I said, "Since I came to Beacon, I never thought about them once, until last night."

"That explains the reason you ran into us." Sun said, "But why were you running in the first place?"

"I...I don't know." I said, "I just know that, as long as I'm stuck here, I'll never get to see them."

"Your family?" Sun asked.

I nodded.

"Hey, think about this: you might forget them, but they'll never forget you." Sun said.

I began to cheer up a little.

"So, what now?" Sun asked.

* * *

"BLAKE!" Ruby called out.

"Blake!" Yang called, "Kody!"

"Blake, where are you?" Ruby asked.

"Kody!" Russell yelled.

"Blake!" Yang said.

"Weiss, you're not helping." Ruby said.

"Oh, you know who might be able to help? The police." Weiss said.

"Ugh...Weiss." Ruby growled.

"It was just an idea." Weiss insisted.

"Stupidest one I've heard all day." Sky said.

"Weiss, I think we should hear their sides of the story before we jump to any conclusions." Yang said.

"When we hear it, I think you'll all realize I was right." Weiss said.

"And I think that Weiss' hair looks wonderful today." Penny said, following behind the group.

"AAH! Penny, where did you come from?!" Ruby asked.

"Hey, guys, what are you up to?" Penny asked.

"We're looking for our friends Blake and Kody." Yang said.

"Oh...you mean the Faunas girl and the angry boy." Penny said.

Everyone just stared at Penny.

"Wait, how did you know that?" Ruby asked.

"Uh...the cat ears and the violent outburst." Penny said as if they were obvious facts, though the second was.

"What cat ears? She wears a...bow." Yang said.

A tumbleweed rolled past the group, Russell was confused as to why that was there.

"She does like tuna a lot." Ruby whispered.

"So, where are they?" Penny asked.

"We don't know, they've been missing since Friday." Ruby said.

Penny gasped as she ran to Ruby.

"That's terrible! Well don't you worry, Ruby-my friend, I won't rest until we find your friends." Penny said.

"Uh, that's really nice of you, Penny, uh, but we-we're okay, really, right guys?" Ruby asked.

Yang, Weiss, Sky, and Dove were gone, leaving Ruby, Russell and Penny to watch the tumbleweed roll by again.

"It sure is windy today." Penny said.

"Where did that tumbleweed come from?" Russell asked.

* * *

Blake, Sun, and I walked along the streets of Vale, contemplating our next move. I was too busy thinking to remember what happened in Canon.

"So, what's the plan now?" Sun asked.

"I still don't think that the White Fang is behind these robberies." Blake said, "They've never needed that much Dust before."

"What if they did?" Sun asked, "I mean, the only way to prove that they didn't do it is to go to the place they would most likely go to if they were to do it and not find them there, right?"

"The only thing is, I have no idea where that would be." Blake said.

"Well, while I was on the ship, I heard a bunch of guys talking about offloading a huge shipment of Dust coming in from Atlas." Sun said.

"How huge?" Blake asked.

"Huuuge." Sun said, "Big Schnee company freighter."

"You're sure?" Blake asked.

Sun nodded.

"I believe him." I said.

Blake looked back at me, then to Sun.

"Okay, then let's go." Blake said.

We all began to make our way to the docks.

* * *

Sky and Dove left a restaurant after asking questions about my whereabouts.

"Well, he was here." Sky said.

"I wonder why he ran off like that." Dove said.

"Maybe he just really misses his family." Sky suggested.

"Still, that has to be the biggest reaction to homesickness I have ever seen." Dove said.

"Yeah," Sky said, "I just hope we can find him before something happens."

Sky and Dove continued their search, determined to find me.

* * *

"So, Blake and Kody are your friends?" Penny asked.

"Yes, Penny." Ruby said.

"But you're mad at them?" Penny asked.

"Yes, well, Weiss is mad a Blake, we're just worried about Kody." Ruby said.

"Is Weiss friends with Blake?" Penny asked.

"Well that's kind of up in the air right now." Ruby said.

"But why?" Penny asked.

"Well, you see, Blake might not be who we thought she was." Ruby said.

"Is she a man?" Penny asked.

"No, no, Penny, I don't know what she is." Ruby said.

"Then why did Kody run away?" Penny asked.

"We don't know about that either." Russell said, "I just said something about family and he bolted."

"Blake ran off too." Ruby said, "And we'd like to know why."

"I don't have a lot of friends, but if I did, I would want them to talk to me about things." Penny said.

"Us too." Ruby and Russell said.

* * *

Blake and I surveyed the harbor from on top of a warehouse.

"Did I miss anything?" Sun asked as he dropped down next to us.

"Not really." Blake said, "They've offloaded all of the crates from the boat, now they're just...sitting there."

"Cool." Sun said as he reached for the fruit he was holding, "I stole you some food."

"Do you always break the law without a second thought?" Blake asked.

"Hey, weren't you in a cult or something?" Sun asked.

Blake and I gave Sun a shared, unamused look.

"Okay, too soon." Sun said.

Moments later, a Bullhead began to descend, sending a large gust of wind at us until it landed on the harbor. After landing, White Fang soldiers left the aircraft.

"Oh no." Blake said.

"Is that them?" Sun asked.

Blake looked at the insignias on the soldiers' outfits.

"Yes...it's them." Blake said.

"You really didn't think they were behind it, did you?" Sun asked.

"No. I think, deep down, I knew." Blake said, "I just didn't want to be right."

"Hey, what's the holdup?!" a familiar voice asked.

Roman Torchwick walked down the bullhead's ramp.

"We're not exactly the most inconspicuous bunch of thieves at the moment, so why don't you animals try to pick up the pace?" Torchwick asked.

"This isn't right. The White Fang would never work with a human, especially not one like that." Blake said as she drew her katana.

"Hey, what are you doing?!" Sun asked as Blake jumped down, "We have to go after her!"

"Wait a minute." I said, stopping Sun.

I looked down at the bullhead and saw a surprise guest walk down. It was the mystery man from the Emerald Forest.

"Oh no." I said, "This wasn't supposed to happen."

* * *

 **Well, it looks like we're in trouble now. I hope you enjoyed this part, because the next one is going to be action packed.**

 **Powerhouse out.**


	12. Chapter 12: Plan B

**Okay, time for the Season finale. Get ready for a heck of a fight.**

* * *

"This is very, very bad!" I panicked, but staying quiet enough.

"Why, what's so bad?" Sun asked.

"The other guy there, he was from the Emerald Forest, he mopped the floor with three teams, only leaving when he thought he killed me." I said.

"Sounds like he's trouble." Sun said, "I'm going to help Blake."

"Sun, wait!" I said as Sun jumped off of the warehouse.

 _What am I going to do? None of us stand a chance against that guy, not even together. And the White Fang and Torchwick aren't going to make this any easier. What am I going to do?_

* * *

Blake peeked around a shipping crate, spotting Torchwick.

"No, no, you idiot, this isn't a leash." Torchwick said.

Blake ran behind Torchwick and put her katana up to his throat.

"What the...?!" Torchwick said as he realized that Blake was that, "Oh for f..."

"Nobody move!" Blake said.

"Woah, take it easy there, little lady." Torchwick said.

More soldiers approached. Once they stopped, Blake removed her bow, revealing her cat ears.

"Brothers of the White Fang, why are you aiding this scum?" Blake asked.

"Ha ho, kid, didn't you get the memo?" Torchwick asked.

"What are you talking about?" Blake asked.

"The White Fang and I are going on a little business venture together." Torchwick said, "Oh, and there's also that guy."

Blake was confused as she was suddenly lifted into the air, accidentally releasing Torchwick.

"And if you thought that this was a little operation...you'd be wrong." Torchwick said.

Another two bullheads flew over the harbor, gaining everyone's attention. Torchwick went to fire one of his blasts at Blake, but Sun jumped in the way and used his bo staff to block the blast, sending him and Blake flying.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the streets of Vale, Ruby, Russell, and Penny were still searching for us.

"What was that?" Russell asked after hearing an explosion.

Everyone looked and saw the smoke rising from the harbor.

"Oh no." Ruby said.

"Let's go check it out!" Russell said, running towards the docks.

* * *

Back at the docks, Blake and Sun were trying avoid Torchwick's blasts and White Fang gunfire, eventually hiding behind some shipping crates.

"Search for them!" Torchwick said.

"No need." the man said, lifting his arms up and beginning to raise the crates.

 _Oh no, what am I going to-AGH, forget it!_

I jumped over to one of the shipping crates, activated my rifle, and opened fire on the group, getting their attention.

"Oh...hello there." the man said, "I thought I killed you."

"I wouldn't die so easily." I said.

"Take care of the Faunas." the man said, lowering the crates, "This one is mine."

The bullheads above opened up their doors, letting White Fang goons drop, as the man leapt at me. The man had his sword at the ready, clashing it with mine.

"You have to be destroyed!" the man said.

"In your dreams!" I said, trying to push back.

The man used his open hand to send me flying in the warehouse, almost knocking me out.

"Ow..." I moaned.

The man leapt through the hole I made, ready to continue his attack.

* * *

Outside the warehouse, Sun and Blake were hiding from Torchwick and the White Fang.

"Here, kitty, kitty." Torchwick said.

Torchwick saw the back of Blake's boot and began to make his way there, but he suddenly felt a banana peel land on his hat. He threw the banana off, getting kicked by Sun as he dropped from the air.

"Leave her alone." Sun said.

"You are not the brightest banana in the bunch, kid." Torchwick said, aiming his weapon at Sun.

Torchwick was about to fire, but I was sent through the warehouse wall and knocked him down, landing next to Sun.

"Hey, watch where you're throwing your opponents!" Torchwick yelled, getting up.

Moments later, all of the White Fang goons came in and surrounded us.

"You good in a fight?" Sun asked.

I nodded in response. Sun and I began to attack the White Fang soldiers, Torchwick couldn't get a shot in, as he was not allowed to hurt the White Fang soldiers. After a bit, Sun and I finished off the last soldier.

"You know, they were the only ones keeping you safe." Torchwick said.

"Sun, watch out, the other guy is the tough one." I said.

"Why you little..." Torchwick said, "I'll take care of them."

"Do as you wish." the man said.

Torchwick fired a blast at us, but Sun blocked it with his staff.

"He's mine!" Blake said, jumping out and knocking Torchwick back.

The man saw that Torchwick was now busy with Blake at the moment and decided to come at Sun and I.

"Watch out, this guy can move things with his mind!" I said.

"Got it!" Sun said, switching to his numbchucks.

The man used his powers to yank a shipping crate in our direction, we quickly dodged, but now Sun and I were separated.

"Uh oh." I said.

The man probably grinned as he approached me. I was alone, with him.

"Hey!" Ruby yelled, getting the man's attention.

The man and I looked up and saw Ruby, Penny, and Russell standing on a warehouse.

"Stay out of this, little girl, this is none of your business." the man said.

"If you plan on hurting my friend, then it's our business." Ruby said.

"Ruby, are these people your friends?" Penny asked.

"No, they're just the opposite." Russell said, "Now back away from my partner!"

"Penny, get back!" Ruby said.

The man seized the opportunity and threw a nearby wooden crate in their direction.

"WATCH OUT!" I yelled.

Ruby looked and saw the crate, slicing it in two.

"Russell, you're with me!" Ruby said, "Penny, you..."

Ruby was interrupted by Penny running in front of her, carrying an angry look.

"Penny, wait, STOP!" Ruby said, reaching to hold Penny back.

"Don't worry, Ruby, I'm combat ready!" Penny said.

"You're in so much trouble now." I said.

The hatch on what appeared to be Penny's backpack opened up, revealing her hovering swords. Penny then jumped off of the building and began attack the man, the man blocked the blades, but it was clear that he was struggling.

"I like her style!" Russell said, ready to jump.

"No, Russell! You have to help Blake and Sun catch Torchwick!" I said.

"But, boss, I..." Russell said.

"That's an order! I'll be fine!" I said.

Russell nodded and went to go help Blake and Sun, meanwhile, Ruby was in awe about Penny's skill.

"I hope that Penny can keep him busy long enough." I said, activating my gauntlets.

* * *

Meanwhile, Blake and Sun were dealing with Torchwick, and were doing a lot better than in Canon.

"Hyah!" Blake cried, as she knocked Torchwick down.

"Oh..." Torchwick moaned on the ground.

Blake put her foot on Torchwick and aimed her gun at him.

"Oh, would you look at that?" Torchwick asked, "We have company."

The three bullheads came back and began to open fire on Blake and Sun. The two Faunas ran for cover as Russell approached them.

"Who're you?" Sun asked as Russell stopped next to him.

"I'm Russell Thrush, one of Kody's teammates." Russell replied.

"Any ideas on how to take those bullheads out?" Sun asked.

Blake looked around and saw another bullhead on the ground.

"I have an idea!" Blake said.

* * *

Back over with Penny and the mysterious man, the fight was heating up.

Penny swung her blades again, knocking the man back.

"Enough!" the man said, grabbing Penny's swords with his powers.

"Hey!" Penny said, fighting against the man's Semblance.

"Chill out." I said as I moved up behind the man.

The man turned towards me, just soon enough for me to hit him with my gauntlet that had Ice Dust active, freezing him solid.

"Good job, Penny." I said, "Now let's take care of those bullheads."

Penny and I ran around a corner, only to see a bullhead flying towards the others.

"What the...?" I asked.

* * *

Russell was piloting the rouge bullhead.

"This is awesome!" Russell said.

Russell's bullhead crashed into two of the others, knocking them down.

"Time to back out." Russell said.

Russell made a break for the exit and jumped, just barely landing on the dock as the White Fang soldiers fell from their ships.

"Russell!" I said, running to my teammate's side.

"Kody, you're alright!" Russell said, "Why did you leave?"

"Let's talk about that after we make it through this." I said, pointing to the bullhead that was beginning to fly off with a shipping container full of Dust.

"I'll take care of that." Penny said.

Penny threw her swords at the bullhead and pulled it back over the dock and bringing it down, hard.

"Whoa!" Russell said.

I looked around and noticed something, there was one more bullhead flying off.

"Torchwick's getting away!" I said.

Then we noticed a second bullhead flying off, I could just see the mysterious man as the side doors closed.

"I thought we had them." I said.

* * *

Soon after, the police had arrived.

We were all sitting on wooden crates as Weiss, Yang, Sky, and Dove arrived.

"Look, Weiss, it's not what you think, they explained everything." Ruby said, "You see Blake doesn't wear a bow, she has kitty ears and they're actually kind of cute."

"And Kody's just really homesick." Russell said.

Weiss confronted Blake as my teammates approached me.

"So, why did you do it?" Sky asked.

"Guys, look, I overacted." I said, "It's just...the thought of forgetting my family and old friends is so heartbreaking. But..."

"Look, boss, it's okay to miss your family and friends." Dove said, "It's just how the world works."

"Besides, not missing them would probably be worse than actually missing them." Russell said.

"You didn't let me finish." I said politely, "I have come to accept that I might not get to see them again, and that shouldn't stop me from making new family and friends."

"What do you mean by family?" Russell asked.

"You guys, you're like brothers to me." I said, "And brothers should share each others' problems, not run away from them. And as for friends, there's Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora, Ren, heck even Cardin, everyone that I've met has helped me realize that my new family and friends are right here, in Beacon."

"So...you coming back with us?" Russell asked.

"Are you kidding?" I asked, "Of course."

Moments later, Yang approached me and gave me a light shove.

"What was that for?" I asked.

"You need to stop scaring us." Yang said, "It's getting ridiculous."

"Sorry, I can't help it." I said.

Yang sighed and gave me a light hug, I was surprised by this, and so was everyone else there.

"Just don't do it again, alright?" Yang asked, letting me go.

"Uh...sure." I said, dumbfounded by Yang's actions.

"Hey wait a minute, where's Penny?" Ruby asked.

I saw the white limo drive off, but thought it best not to tell anyone.

"So, back to Beacon?" Russell asked.

"Sure, I'll race you." I said.

"Loser has to clean the dorm's toilet!" Russell said, getting a headstart.

"Hey, come back!" I happily said as my team and I made our way back to Beacon.

* * *

 **And that was Vol 1, I hope you all enjoyed. In Vol 2, we'll get to see a little more Canon change. BTW, I have a shipping name for me/my OC x Yang: "Crimson Dragon".**

 **This story will be on break for a bit to allow my Pokémon story and Adam Tauros story to catch up. In the meantime, go check out my other stories and vote on my poll.**

 **Here's a treat for all of you who have been here for this whole time:**

* * *

 **Post-credits teaser**

* * *

The mysterious man was sitting in a warehouse, as Cinder Fall talked to Roman Torchwick.

"All we ask is a little cooperation." Cinder said.

"I have no complaints." the man said.

Torchwick had an unamused face.

"Okay, continue your jobs." Cinder said.

Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury left the building.

" _I'm only here to kill that boy before he destroys everything._ " the man thought, " _Once he's gone, I'm leaving_."

The man rested, waiting for his next assignment and opportunity to kill me.

* * *

 **Powerhouse out.**


	13. Chapter 13: FOOD FIGHT!

**Time for the second season of Far From Home to begin, I hope you all enjoy. Sorry if this one isn't that great, there isn't too much rewriting here.**

* * *

I walked through a long hallway, it was seemingly endless.

"Hello?" I asked.

I saw a shadow run by me. I reached for my weapon, but didn't find it. I frantically looked around, trying to find the shadow that appeared to be jumping through the walls.

"You are the end." a familiar voice said.

I turned around and saw the mysterious man leap at me. The man swung his sword and everything went black.

* * *

I suddenly woke up in Beacon's Cafeteria in a cold sweat.

"You okay, Kody?" Russell asked.

"Uh...yeah." I replied, "Just a nightmare."

I looked around, we were sitting with Team RWBY as everyone ate lunch. I watched as Nora threw various types of food to Yang from the other table.

" _Something important is about to happen, but what was it_?" I thought, " _I'm so tired right now_."

A loud, and sudden, thud at our table quickly woke me up. I looked in the direction of the sound and saw Ruby with a huge binder. Ruby cleared her throat before speaking.

"Sisters! Friends! Weiss..." Ruby said.

"Hey!" Weiss said.

"Four score and seven minutes ago, I had a dream." Ruby said.

"This ought to be good." Yang said, right before catching a piece of food with her mouth.

" _I want to tell them the political references so bad_." I thought.

"A dream that one day, the four of us would come together, as a team, and have the most fun anyone's ever had, ever!" Ruby said.

"Did you steal my binder?" Weiss asked.

"I am not a crook." Ruby said as she did the whole "Nixon" thing.

"What are you talking about?" Blake asked.

"I'm talking about kicking the semester off with a bang!" Ruby said.

"I always kick my semesters off with a Yang." Yang said, "Ehh!? Guys? Am I right?"

We all groaned as Nora threw a tomato at Yang's face.

"Serves you right." I said.

"Look, guys, it's been a good two weeks. And between more exchange students arriving and the tournament at the end of the year, our second semester is going to be great! But classes start back up tomorrow. Which is why I've taken the time to schedule a series of wonderful events for us today." Ruby said.

"I don't whether to be proud or scared of what you have in store." Weiss said.

Yang threw an apple at Nora, but missed.

"I don't know." Blake said, "I think I might sit this one out."

"Sit out or not, I think however we spend this last day we should do it as a team." Weiss said, standing up.

" _Oh snap, now I remember_!" I thought.

"I got it!" Nora cried as Yang motioned for her to stop.

"I for one think that-" Weiss said, right before getting creamed in the face with a pie.

When we all looked at Nora, she pointed to her teammates.

"Uh oh." I said.

Weiss grabbed a piece of fruit and threw it at Nora. The fruit missed and hit a bystander. Soon, there was food flying everywhere.

"FOOD FIGHT!" a student yelled.

Soon, I had taken cover under the table with my teammates for the duration of the combat.

"IT'S LIKE A WARZONE!" I said.

"What are we going to do?" Russell asked.

"I'd recommend we hold down until things calm down a bit!" I said.

Moments later, all that could be heard was screaming. My team and I peeked out and saw Team JNPR standing atop a mountain of tables.

"I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!" Nora said.

We looked the other way and saw Ruby holding a milk carton.

"Justice will be swift! Justice will be painful!" Ruby said as she crushed the carton, sending milk everywhere, "It will be delicious!"

"Off with their heads!" Nora said.

Team JNPR sent a bunch of watermelons flying in RWBY's direction.

"Yang! Turkey!" Ruby said.

As Yang took care of the watermelons, we ran to RWBY's side.

"Need a little help?" I asked.

"It would be appreciated." Ruby said.

As Blake ran to assist Yang, we thought of a strategy.

"Okay, Sky, Dove, you guys assist Blake and Yang while Russell and I flank them!" I said.

"Got it!" Sky, Russell, and Dove said.

"Break!" I said.

We split up in pairs. As Russell and I ran around the side, an unexpected ally came to JNPR's side.

"Hey, Kody." Cardin said, "You up for this?"

"Now you're involved in this?!" I asked.

"No, we are." Cardin said as Team CYAN jumped out from behind the table mountain and began to bombard RWBY with various fruits and vegetables.

"GUYS, WATCH OUT! CYAN'S HERE!" I said.

Team RWBY saw the incoming onslaught of produce and went for cover.

"Andrew, let's take care of these two." Cardin said.

Andrew came to Cardin's side.

"Russell, broken loaf." I said.

Russell nodded and ran over to Blake's broken baguette and picked it up, holding the halves like knives. Meanwhile, I grabbed a pair of full baguettes and we ran at Cardin and Andrew. Cardin pulled his own baguette off of the ground while Andrew grabbed a tray to use as a shield. I began to push my bread loaves against Cardin's.

"Even though we're on a truce, I'm putting it to the side." Cardin said.

"Wait, we have a what?" I asked.

Cardin took advantage of my shock and kicked me, sending me flying.

"Kody!" Russell said.

Andrew seized the moment and kicked Russell away.

"We need to get past them!" Russell said, "But how?"

"I have an idea." I said, "Sky, Dove, bombs away!"

Cardin and Andrew gave us a weird look right before Sky and Dove sent a bombardment of watermelons at the twosome, knocking them down.

"Thanks!" I said, "Let's go!"

Russell and I ran past the downed partners and arrived behind the vending machines. As soon as we arrived, I saw Nora send Yang sky-high.

"Yang!" I cried.

"Oh?" Nora asked, turning towards us, "Hello."

"Uh oh." I said, "Run!"

Russell and I hid behind the mountain of tables. We watched as Pyrrha sent a barrage of soda cans at Blake, Sky, and Dove, sending them flying. We looked at Ruby, who gave us a nod.

"Russell, we need to move to the side." I said.

Russell and I ran to the edge of the room, allowing Ruby to dash through the room, sending the cans back at JNPR and CYAN. The wave of junk and food caught JPNR and CYAN in its wake, throwing them against the wall. Ruby dashed over to us and we watched as the two teams were bombarded with goodies and other things.

Soon, we saw Glynda Goodwitch enter the cafeteria and put everything back in its place.

"Children, please do not play with your food." Glynda said.

We all looked around as Nora burped and Yang fell from the ceiling.

"You alright?" I asked, helping pull Yang up, "That was quite a fall."

"It was quite a _melon_ choly thing." Yang said.

"Okay, that one was pretty clever." I said.

We all began to laugh and just enjoy ourselves.

"This is the way we want to spend every day." I said.

* * *

 **That was the Volume 2 premiere. I hope it was fun. This was just supposed to be a nice way to jump right into the new season. There will be Canon alteration in this season.**

 **Powerhouse out.**


	14. Chapter 14: Board Games and Books

**Time for the second chapter of Volume 2. I hope this is another fun one.**

* * *

We all sat around the table in Beacon's library, watching RWBY play World of Remnant.

"Alright..." Ruby said.

"Ruby, don't play that card." I said.

 _This should be fun_.

"Why?" Ruby asked.

"Trust me, you'll want to play that one." I said, pointing to another card.

"Okay..." Ruby said, "Yang Xiao Long, prepare your kingdom for battle!"

"Bring it on!" Yang said.

"I deploy, the Atlesian Stealth Force!" Ruby said.

"How did you-?!" Yang asked.

"Looks like I get to sneak right through your walls and remove any traps!" Ruby said.

"You fiend!" Yang said.

"And since Atlas is part of Mantle, my repair time lasts only one turn." Ruby said.

"Grr." Yang said, putting her trap card in the discard pile, "I swear that you peeked."

"I swear, I never peeked." I said, "I just thought it would be a good idea to check for traps."

"But the stealth force backfires badly if there's no trap." Ruby said.

"Just good intuition, I guess." I said, "Well, Ice Queen, it's your turn."

Weiss glared at me and then stared at her cards.

"I have...absolutely no idea what's going on." Weiss said.

"Look, it's not that hard, you're playin as Vacuo, therefore, all Vacuo-based cards come with a bonus." I said.

"That sounds dumb." Weiss said.

"You've got Sandstorm, Desert Scavenge, Resourceful Raider, now you can take Yang's discarded trap card..." I said as Yang growled at me, "and put it in your hand."

"Okay...?" Weiss said.

"And since Vacuo Warriors have an endurance boost against natural hazards, you could use Sandstorm to disable Yang or Ruby's ground forces and simultaneously infiltrate either's kingdom." I said, "But be warned, they might not forget the declaration of war."

"And that means...?" Weiss asked.

"You're just three moves away from conquering Remnant." I said.

Weiss got up and had a pathetic maniacal laugh.

"YES! FEAR THE ALMIGHTY POWER OF MY FORCES! COWER AS THEY PILLAGE YOUR HOMES AND WEEP AS THEY TAKE YOUR CHILDREN FROM YOUR VERY ARMS!" Weiss said, "I SHALL TAKE MY HOMELAND BACK BY FORCE!"

 _I think I just caused a problem_.

"Ruby, if you would?" I asked.

"Trap card!" Ruby said, holding up a trap card.

"THE GOLIATH?!" Weiss asked.

I looked away and walked over to JNPR as Weiss's forces fell to Ruby's. I saw Jaune gazing longingly at Weiss.

"Dude, I told you before, it won't work." I said, "She's not interested in you."

"But you don't know love." Jaune said.

"Jaune," I said as I pulled Jaune's book down, "I think love is closer than you think."

I motioned my head over to Pyrrha.

"No, that can't be true." Jaune said, "She's just a friend."

"Dude, you're missing out on the biggest catch of your life." I said, walking off.

I walked back over to the table just in time, seeing as how Sun and Neptune arrived.

"Sup, losers?" Sun asked.

"Hey Sun!" Ruby said.

"Ruby, Blake, Yang, Kody, Ice Queen..." Sun said.

"Why does everyone keep calling me that!?" Weiss asked.

"It's catchy." I said.

"I never got a chance to formally introduce you to my old friend." Sun said.

"Uh...aren't libraries for reading?" Neptune asked.

"Thank you!" Ren said.

"Pancakes!" Nora exclaimed as she woke up.

"Shut up. Don't be a nerd." Sun said.

"G-g-g-g. Intellectual." Neptune said, "Okay? Thank you. I'm Neptune."

"So, Neptune, where are you from?" Weiss asked.

"Haven..." Neptune said as he walked over to Weiss, "...And I don't believe I've caught your name, snow angel."

"Um...I'm Weiss." Weiss said.

"Are you kidding me!?" Jaune whispered.

"See?" I whispered to Jaune.

"Pleasure to meet you." Neptune said to Weiss.

"I never took you as the board-game-playing type!" Sun said.

"Right...well, I think I'm done playing actually." Blake said as she got up and left, "I'll see you guys later."

"Women." Nora said, gaining everyone's attention.

"So, who wants to...?" Ruby asked.

"I will!" I said, shooting into the vacant seat.

"You're so going down." Yang said.

* * *

Some time later, in my team's dorm, we were coming back from the library.

"How did she come back from that?!" I exclaimed.

"She kicked your butt!" Sky said.

"I can't believe that you got beat by a girl." Russell said, sitting on his bed.

I sat down and began to reminisce about the recent events. I thought back to Ozpin's chat with Blake, Sun, and, finally, me.

* * *

"I'm glad to see you decided to come here so late." Ozpin said, walking into the room.

I sat down in the seat across from Ozpin, awaiting his arrival.

"Can we get on with this?" I asked, "I want to get to sleep."

"At least you want to take care of this." Ozpin said, "So, in order to enroll at Beacon Academy, students must pass a rigorous entrance exam. Many applicants spend many years training at one of the many combat schools around the world...and just like Blake, you did not."

 _Wait, what?!_

"And you passed the exam with flying colors." Ozpin said.

 _When did this happen?_

"Something wrong?" Ozpin asked.

"No, I just never knew I did so well on my exam." I said.

"Well, you did, Kody." Ozpin said, "And I admire your devotion to protecting others, it's the mark of a true Huntsman. And, if you want to talk about your past, it's completely fine."

I gave Ozpin a quizzical look.

"I have noticed that you seem awfully protective of your own past, why is that?" Ozpin asked.

"Well, there's nothing interesting to talk about." I said, "I would just be boring everyone else."

"Then why so protective?" Ozpin asked.

I didn't know how to respond.

"How about we change the subject?" Ozpin asked, "How did you know the White Fang would be at the Shipyard tonight?"

"I just followed Sun and Blake, I didn't direct their choice." I said.

"That may be true, but what happened tonight wasn't just and isolated incident." Ozpin said, "I may be your headmaster, but I am also a Huntsman...and it is my sworn duty to protect this world from the forces that conspire against it. Kody...are you sure there is nothing else you would like to tell me?"

I sighed.

"I'm sure." I said.

"Very well." Ozpin said, getting up, "Thank you for your time, Mr. Crimson."

Ozpin walked to the door.

"If you ever need to talk to me, please don't hesitate to ask." Ozpin said, right before leaving.

"Kody? Kody?" I heard a voice say.

* * *

My mind focused back on the present day.

"What?" I asked.

"You were spacing out for a moment." Russell said, "You alright?"

"Uh...yeah." I said, "I'm okay."

"That's good." Russell said, "Well, we should all get to sleep now."

"Yeah, I agree." I said.

As Russell went to the bathroom to change, I looked out our open dorm door and saw Emerald, Mercury, and Cinder walk by. Cinder gave me a weird look as she passed by.

"Some of us are going to sleep better than others." I said.

I thought about Cinder, and if she knew about me.

* * *

 **That was the second chapter of Volume 2. I hope this was enjoyable. This chapter was meant to build up to later stories in this Volume.**

 **Powerhouse out.**


	15. Chapter 15: The Hunt Begins

**This chapter is going to start creating at least slight alterations to Canon. I hope you enjoy.**

* * *

I walked through Beacon's courtyard after school, my teammates were all looking to see if any of the girls around school wanted to go to the dance with them, so I had some alone time.

 _I wonder if my teammates will get any dates. Speaking of dates, I hope Jaune takes my advice._

I looked around and saw Sun trying to get Neptune to climb a tree.

"No, dude, trust me, this will be alright." Sun said, "I heard that RWBY was going after the Fang tonight."

"Ah...I don't know." Neptune said.

"What're you guys doing?" I asked.

"RWBY's going after the White Fang tonight, I want to help them." Sun said, "I decided to bring Neptune along."

"I'm telling you, this won't end well." Neptune said.

"But Weiss could use your help." Sun said in a coaxing voice.

"Really?" Neptune asked.

"For real." I said.

 _You know, if I tag along, things might go smoother._

"Can I tag along?" I asked.

"Why not?." Sun said, "Come on."

Sun climbed up the tree with no problem, Neptune and I dragged behind.

* * *

Sun had finally reached RWBY's window and overheard the end of their conversation. Neptune and I perched on the ledge next to the window.

"Yeah!" Sun said, hanging from his tail in front of RWBY's window.

"Sun!?" Blake asked as her team dashed backwards.

"How did you get up there?" Weiss asked.

"Aw, it's easy I do it all the time." Sun said.

"You do what?!" Weiss asked.

"I climb trees all the time." Sun said, right before dropping into the dorm, "So, are we finally getting back at the Torchwick guy?"

"We...are going to investigate the situation. As a team." Blake said.

"Sorry Sun, we don't want to get friends involved if we don't have to." Ruby said.

"Pfft. That's dumb. You should always get friends involved. That's why I brought Neptune."

Team RWBY looked out the window and saw Neptune and I.

"Sup." Neptune said.

I didn't respond, I was afraid of the altitude we were at.

"How did you even get up here?" Ruby asked.

"We have our ways." Neptune said, "Seriously thought can we come in? We're like...really high up right now."

I nodded my head at the team.

* * *

After RWBY brought us into the dorm, we began to finalize the plan.

"Alright, I'll go with Weiss." Ruby said, "Sun, you can go with Blake. And Neptune, you can go with Yang because she doesn't have a partner."

Neptune winked at Weiss as he was pushed over to Yang.

"Everyone good?" Ruby asked.

"Actually Ruby, why don't you go with Yang?" Weiss asked, "After all, she is your sister."

"But Weiss, who would go with you then?" Ruby asked.

"Well, I guess Neptune could come with me." Weiss said.

Ruby laughed.

"Nah." Ruby said.

 _You know, maybe if I get Neptune with Weiss, Jaune will stop trying._

"How about this, I'll go with Yang while Neptune and Ruby go with Weiss?" I asked, "Sound good?"

"Yes!" Weiss said.

Ruby shrugged.

"Alright." Ruby said, "You okay with that Yang?"

"No complaints here." Yang said.

Neptune and Ruby walked out.

"Remember, Weiss, you owe me one." I said.

Weiss took note of that and walked off.

"So, where's your friend live?" I asked.

Yang smiled as she pulled me out of the dorm.

* * *

"Wowwww!" Ruby said, admiring the tower, "I forget how big the transmit tower looks up-close!"

"You should see the one in Atlas!" Weiss said.

"That was the first one, right!?" Ruby asked.

"Correct! Atlas developed the Cross Continental Transmit system to allow the four kingdoms to communicate with one another." Weiss said, "It was their gift to the world after the great war."

"Ooo, look at me. My name is Weiss. I know facts. I'm rich." Ruby said.

Ruby snickered.

"Don't be a pest. Besides, the only reason we're here is because you like the tower so much." Weiss said.

"I would have probably been easier to go there." Neptune said, "But, we're already here."

Ruby took her Scroll out to take a picture of the tower, but she fumbled about and dropped it right next to Penny.

"Oh..." Penny said, picking the Scroll up, "You dropped this-"

"Penny!?" Ruby asked.

"Who's she?" Neptune asked.

"She's like Ruby, but to a higher degree." Weiss said.

"Uh..." Penny responded simply.

"Where have you been? We haven't seen you since the night at the docks." Ruby said.

"S-sorry. I think you might be confused." Penny said.

Penny hiccupped and she accidentally threw Ruby's Scroll back to her.

"Uh... I've got to go!" Penny said.

Penny ran off.

"What was that about?" Weiss and Neptune asked.

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out." Ruby said, "You guys go make the call, I'll meet up with you later."

"Wait!" Weiss said, "Ugh..."

"I guess there's nothing we can do now." Neptune said.

* * *

Weiss and Neptune walked over to the elevator in the CCT and the doors closed behind them.

"Hello! Welcome to the CCT. How may I help you?" the computer asked.

"We'd like to go the Communications Room, please." Weiss said.

"Absolutely. Could you please place your Scrolls on the terminal to verify your identity." the computer said.

Neptune put his Scroll on the terminal and then Weiss put hers on.

"Perfect. Thank you Miss Schnee and Mister Vasilias." the computer said.

Weiss seemed uneasy as the elevator began its ascent.

"Are you alright?" Neptune asked.

"Let's just say...my family and I don't get along very well." Weiss said.

"If you and your family are having problems, you should get them resolved." Neptune said.

"If only it were that easy." Weiss said.

The elevator doors opened and allowed Weiss and Neptune to leave to make the call.

* * *

Yang and I rode on Bumbleby through the streets of Vale.

"This is actually a lot slower than I expected." I said.

"Oh? You wanted things a little faster?" Yang asked.

"No, wait! That's not what I-" I said.

"You might want to hold on!" Yang said.

Yang sped the bike up and I clutched onto her, stunned from fear the whole way.

"Aw? What's wrong? Can't take a little speed?" Yang asked.

The bike turned around and suddenly came to a stop. Yang took her helmet off and let her hair down.

"Come on, my friend's right in here." Yang said.

Yang got off the bike as I just continued to stare out into space.

"Come on, you'll like him." Yang said, pulling me off of her bike and towards the nightclub's doors.

"It's her!" a guard said.

"Hurry, close the door. She's coming!" a guard said as he closed the club's doors.

"Looks like they forgot to roll out the red carpet." I said.

"Then we'll roll it out ourselves." Yang said, preparing Ember Celica.

Yang threw her fist forward and blasted the doors open, allowing Yang and I to walk in.

"Guess who's back!?" Yang rhetorically asked.

All of the guards in the club aimed their guns at us. I raised my shield up, just in case. Yang glared over at the DJ and he stopped the looping song.

"Uh...hello." I said, peeking out from behind Yang.

"Stop! Stop!" Junior said, "Nobody shoot!"

Junior walked through the crowd of guards.

"Eh-hem. Blondie! You're here!" Junior said, "Why?"

"You still owe me a drink..." Yang said, right before dragging Junior off.

"Hey, don't leave me here." I said, following the twosome.

 _I hope things are going smoothly with the others._

* * *

Blake and Sun were inside the warehouse, waiting for the speech to begin.

"Thank you all for coming. For those of you who are joining us for the first time tonight, allow me to introduce some very special comrades of ours." the White Fang Lieutenant, "I can assure you, they are the keys to obtaining what we have fought for, for so long."

Roman Torchwick, Neo Politan, and the mysterious man from the Emerald Forest walked up onto the stage.

"What's he doing here?" Sun asked to Blake.

"I don't know." Blake said, "But we have a huge problem on our hands."

* * *

 **And I'll end this here. Sorry for the cliffhanger, but the next chapter is going to be good.**

 **BTW, there is a poll on my profile page that I would like everyone to check out.**

 **Powerhouse out.**


	16. Chapter 16: Regroup and Recover

**Time for Canon alteration, this is going to be fun.**

* * *

Junior put his glass down on the bar.

"I don't know." Junior said.

"How can you not know?" Yang asked.

"I haven't talked to him! I haven't even seen him since the night you first came in here!" Junior said, "He paid up front, I lent him my men, and none of them ever came back."

"Anything else you can tell us?" I asked, walking up past Yang.

"If it's related to Torchwick, then no." Junior said, "Now if you're referring to the White Fang, then I know something."

"Then tell us." I said.

"Hmph. Make me." Junior said.

"Do you want to see a replay of the first time I came here?" Yang asked.

"Alright! Alright! I'll tell you what I know." Junior said, "I heard where the White Fang was holding tonight's recruitment drive."

"Where?" Yang asked.

"Downtown, warehouse 35." Junior said, "Now, will you leave me alone?"

"Fine." Yang said, "Come on, Kody."

"Did we learn enough?" I asked.

"Well, at least what we could." Yang said, "Hopefully the rest of the team is having better luck."

* * *

The recruits were walking up to the stage, with Blake and Sun in the middle of the crowd.

"What are we going to do!?" Sun asked.

"I'm thinking." Blake said.

Torchwick looked towards Blake and Sun.

"He sees us." Sun said.

Torchwick began to walk towards the twosome. As Torchwick approached, Blake saw the fuse box.

"He can't see in the dark." Blake said.

Blake aimed her gun at the fuse box and fired, but the bullet was stopped in midair. The sudden gunfire caused the crowd to run around in a panic.

"Ah, ah, ah." the mysterious man said, holding his hand out, "Don't you know that destroying private property is illegal?"

"Uh...hi!" Sun said.

The man snapped his fingers forward, launching the bullet towards the twosome. Blake and Sun dodged and ran for cover.

"We need to get out of here!" Blake said.

"So you wouldn't happen to have some form of backup!?" Sun asked.

"On it!" Blake said, activating her Scroll.

* * *

Weiss and Neptune walked out of the elevator and Weiss's Scroll received Blake's call.

"Everyone!" Blake said, "If you can hear me we need back-!"

"HELP!" Sun yelled.

Weiss and Neptune ran off to help their friends.

* * *

Ruby finished crawling out of a dumpster (her talk with Penny didn't change) and received Blake's call.

"That weird guy is here! We're pinned down! We're trapped!" Sun said.

"Oh I am not missing this!" Ruby said.

Ruby shot off to help.

* * *

"The Torchwick guy is also here! And he looks really mad!" Sun said.

"Where are you guys!?" Yang asked.

"Warehouse 35!" Blake said.

"Hurrrrry!" Sun said.

"I think we should get a move on." I said.

"Yeah, I got it!" Yang said.

Yang revved Bumblby up and we drove off towards warehouse 35.

"Whoa!" I exclaimed as we turned around and sped up.

 _Things have definitely changed. I hope we can handle this._

* * *

After a few minutes, warehouse 35 was in our sight.

"There it is!" I said.

We saw that everything was closed up.

"We need to get off and find a way in!" I said.

"We don't have time for that!" Yang said.

"Wait what are you doing!?" I asked.

Weiss and Neptune came running up to the warehouse's doors.

"Weiss, give us an entrance!" Yang said.

Weiss nodded and stuck Myrtenaster into the ground. An ice ramp formed in front of Yang and I, and we drove right up it.

"We're gonna die!" I yelled as we shot up.

Bumbleby launched into the air and through the window. The bike flew through the air. This gained the attention of the villains, who, other than Blake and Sun, were the only ones in the room by now.

"Now, jump!" Yang said.

I complied, knowing it would probably be safer for me, and jumped off. I pulled my shield off of my back and flew towards the mysterious man. The man pulled his sword out and I smashed my shield into it, knocking the man down.

"You." the man said, "Why didn't you stay dead in the Emerald Forest?"

"I don't die so easily." I said.

"Well, I shall remedy that." the man said.

The man lifted his hand up and pulled me into the air.

"Torchwick, blast him!" the man said.

Torchwick aimed his weapon at me.

"I'm going to make you pay for the docks." Torchwick said.

Torchwicke fired his gun at me, but before it could hit me, one of the blasts from Ember Celica collided with the candle shot, causing a small explosion that sent the mysterious man back, releasing me from his grip.

"Thanks, Yang!" I said.

I ran down the stage, avoiding Torchwick's blasts. I stopped over by the others.

"You guys alright?" Yang asked.

"That was too close." Sun said, "Where are the others?"

Ruby, Weiss, and Neptune came running into the warehouse.

"What did we miss?" Ruby asked.

"Well, not much-." I said.

Abrupt noises of machinery moving interrupted me as we saw the mechsuit power up.

"Other than our imminent doom." I said.

The mechsuit stood up and aimed its guns at us.

"Duck and cover!" I said.

We split up, running for cover from the robot's waves of gunfire.

"What are we going to do!?" I asked.

Ruby observed the area.

"We're sitting ducks if we stay inside." Ruby said, "Weiss, Blake, Sun, Neptune, you four and me will distract them while the others give us a way out. Kody, Yang, make us a way out."

"You mean 'I'." Weiss said, correcting Ruby's vocal error.

"Well **I** think that we should get moving before we get blasted!" I said.

Everyone spread out to take care of a different task.

"Ice Flower!" Ruby said.

Weiss created an Ice Glyph in front of Ruby and then she shot bullets through it that engulfed parts of the mech in ice.

"Now, Crimson Dragon!" Ruby said.

Yang nodded and grabbed me by my feet.

"Ready?" Yang asked.

"No." I said.

"I thought so." Yang said.

Yang began to spin around, swinging me in the air. After a few moments, Yang let go and sent me flying towards one of the warehouse's higher unbroken windows. I pulled my shield up and smashed right through the wall, skidding to a halt on the other side.

"Oh, that smarts." I said, getting up.

I got up and jumped up towards the exit I had made.

"Guys, let's go!" I said.

I looked over at the stage and saw that the man was gone.

 _Where did he go?_

"Come on!" Ruby said, jumping by, "That won't hold him for long!"

"Uh...right!" I said.

I ran with the group and saw Yang pull up next to me on her bike.

"Jump on!" Yang said.

"I don't know about-" I said.

Moments later, the mech smashed right through the warehouse's wall and came charging at us.

"OKAY-OKAY-OKAY!" I cried, jumping onto the back seat of Yang's bike.

We drove down the road as our teammates ran across the rooftops overhead.

"He's gaining on us!" I yelled.

"Hold on!" Yang said.

I didn't hesitate, thinking that Yang was about to do something crazy, and put my arms around Yang's waist. I looked around Yang and saw that we were heading down a highway. I looked around and saw Blake and Sun jumping on cars and getting ahead of us.

"Slow that thing down!" Yang said.

"Wait..." I said as the bike slowed down dramatically, "WHAAAAAAT?!"

Bumbleby passed right between the mech's legs and then we sped up when we got behind it.

"Any ideas!?" I asked.

Yang didn't get to answer, seeing as how Torchwick saw us and sped the mech up, sending a bunch of cars into the air.

"Get ready!" Yang said.

"Uh-oh." I said.

Bumbleby swerved left and right, avoiding the cars.

"I hope those people are alright!" I said.

"We can't worry about them now!" Yang said, "We need to stop Torchwick before he can hurt anyone else!"

We pulled up behind the mech.

 _What can I do?_

As we neared the mech, I got an idea.

"That's it." I said.

I stood up on the back of the bike and activated the gloves.

"THIS IS A REALLY BAD IDEA!" I yelled as I jumped off of Bumbleby.

I activated Air Dust and pushed down, launching myself over to the mech. I deactivated the gloves and activated my Semblance, creating psionic claws on my fingers. I landed on the mech and stabbed the claws into the mech's back.

"Kody, hang on!" Sun said, landing on a truck.

"WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE I'M DOING!?" I asked as the mech began to spin around.

Sun pushed his hands together and created two astral projections. The projections ran at the mech and smashed into it. Sun then pulled his bo staff out and jumped at the mech.

 _I need to hold on, glad these claws are surprisingly good at this._

Sun slammed his bo staff onto the mech's head and then grabbed onto it's arm with his tail.

Down the road, I saw Weiss land on the ground.

"Sun, HOLD ON!" I said.

Sun and I held on to the mech tightly as Weiss froze the ground ahead of us. The mech slid on the ice and smashed through one of the energy barriers, sending the mech, Sun, and I plummeting down to ground level.

"LET GO!" I said.

I pulled my claws out of the mech and leapt at Sun. I grabbed Sun like I did with Russell during Initiation and used my claws to slid down one of the highway supports. Ruby and Neptune were waiting on the ground for us. As the mech landed, the rest of Team RWBY did too. The mech began to walk towards us.

"Freezer Burn!" Ruby said.

We all ran back as Weiss froze the ground and Yang smashed it, creating a thick steam screen. We all ran around the mech, looking for a good time to strike. I ran into Sun and Neptune behind the mech and got an idea.

"Quick, Neptune, give me some cover fire." I said, "Sun, give me some assistance."

Sun and Neptune nodded. Neptune fired a few blasts of electricity at the mech while Sun and I ran at it.

"Sun, smash its back!" I yelled.

Sun leapt up and hit the mech in the back.

"My turn!" I said.

I leapt onto the mech's back as Blake and Weiss attacked the legs. I activated my gloves and put Lightning Dust in them, sending waves of electricity into the mech. Torchwick tried to fire a bunch of missiles, but my sabotage kept it from using them.

"Ruby! Blake! Now!" I said.

"Right! Ladybug!" Ruby said.

I jumped back and let Ruby and Blake attack the mech's legs and cockpit, they ended the attack by severing the left forearm off.

"I softened him up for you!" I said to Yang.

Yang leapt up and began to pumped the mech's back panel full of lead. Although, even with the extra damage done, the mech rushed backwards and smashed Yang through a few support pillars. The mech finished this by punching Yang back.

"Yang!" Blake said.

"Don't worry...with each hit the gets stronger and she uses that energy to fight back." Ruby said, "That's what makes her special."

 _They should be able to take care of this from here. I feel like there's something that I should...that's it!_

I ran off to find something important as Team RWBY beat the mech up just like in Canon.

Blake spun around, as Ruby and Weiss froze the mech in place, and launched Yang towards Torchwick. Yang punched the mech and shattered it, sending Torchwick flying.

"Just got this thing cleaned!" Torchwick complained.

Yang fired a blast at Torchwick, but it was blocked by Neo, who dropped down and used her umbrella to do so.

"Ladies, gentlemen, Ice Queen..." Torchwick said.

"Hey!" Weiss said.

"...Always a pleasure." Torchwick said, "Neo, if you would?"

Yang ran at the twosome and attacked them, but all Yang hit was a glass-like illusion that shattered on impact.

"Hey, where'd Kody go?" Ruby asked.

A bullhead flew off, carrying Torchwick and Neo in it.

"He got away again!" Sun said.

I peeked down into the passenger area from on top.

"Hello!" I said.

"You little-!" Torchwick said, aiming his gun at me.

I flung my head back as Torchwick fired. The blast hit a turbine and sent the bullhead falling towards the ground.

"Gotta jet!" I said, jumping off of the bullhead.

I tried to activate Wind Dust, but I found out I was out.

"OH-NO!" I yelled.

I was expecting to crash into the ground, but I was caught by Yang and was held by her bridal-style.

"Are you alright?" Yang asked.

"This is the second time this has happened." I said, blushing, "This is getting ridiculous."

We all watched as the bullhead crashed. We all ran over to the crashed bullhead and only found Torchwick and the White Fang pilot.

"I guess the girl escaped." Sun said.

"All that matters is that we caught Torchwick." Ruby said, "Come on, let's take care of him."

* * *

After dropping Torchwick off to the police and having him sent to the Atlas ship, we were ready for a break.

"So, any ideas on what to do next?" I asked.

"Oh, I know a really nice place downtown." Sun said.

* * *

A bit later, we were all sitting down at 'A Simple Wok - Noodle House'.

"Hmm, this is pretty good." Neptune said.

 _I really hope I made the right choice in catching Torchwick._

"You alright?" Yang asked.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm alright." I said.

"Glad to hear it." Yang said.

From on the rooftops, the mysterious man was watching us.

"The choices you make will doom us all." the man said, right before running off.

* * *

 **And that was the first full-on Canon-altering chapter. I hope it was a cool fight, because it was a long chapter.**

 **Powerhouse out.**


	17. Chapter 17: Changes

**Now it's time to see what my actions have caused.**

* * *

The sounds of battle could be heard filling the sparring arena. It was the most awesome scene ever, Pyrrha Nikos was kicking the snot out of Team CYAN. I watched in awe at the scene, and was so satisfied.

"Yeah, Pyrrha!" I said.

My teammates were cheering the spartan warrior on too. We saw Pyrrha finish off all of the team (I would have written the fight, but I feel like to would steal the show).

"Lucky shot..." Cardin moaned as he fell down.

"Well done, Miss Nikos." Glynda said as she walked up to the group, "You should have no problem qualifying for the tournament."

"Thank you, professor." Pyrrha said.

"Alright, now I know that's a tough act to follow, but we have time for one more sparring match!" Glynda said, "Any volunteers?"

Nobody responded for a bit, but I did notice that Blake looked awfully content.

 _Blake isn't sad. I guess catching Torchwick really helped._

"I'll do it." Mercury said.

"Mercury, is it?" Glynda asked, "Very well, let's find you an opponent."

 _I need to step in here._

"I'll fight him." I said, standing up, "Things have been awfully quiet lately."

"Excellent, now let's..." Glynda said.

"I actually want to fight...her." Mercury said, pointing to Pyrrha.

"What? Are you scared of losing to me?" I asked, trying to taunt Mercury into fighting me.

"No." Mercury said.

"Then let's do it." I said.

Mercury conceded, knowing that my persistence would continue.

* * *

Mercury and I walked out onto the sparring arena, prepared for battle. Mercury wasted no time in charging at me. I pulled my shield up and blocked the attack, pushing Mercury back. I took the offensive and ran at Mercury, activating my swords. Mercury swung his boots at me, firing off multiple rounds. I jumped over the blasts and swung my swords down at Mercury. Mercury knocked my blades out of my hands and sent them flying up into the stands.

"What're you gonna do now?" Mercury asked.

"Oh, this." I said as my gloves activated.

Mercury ran at me and swung his boots. I put my gloves up and blocked the attacks, but it pushed me back. As Mercury's blasts pushed me back, I got an idea. Mercury hit me again, this time, I did a few backwards somersaults to gain some distance. I landed on my feet and put Lightning Dust into my gloves.

 _No, he'll know that I know about he metal feet_.

I switched to Blast Dust and waited for Mercury to charge. Mercury kicked at me again, but I swung my fist at his leg and the explosion from the Blast Dust sent him flying. Mercury quickly recovered.

"Hmm..." Mercury muttered.

I ran back and grabbed my swords. I suddenly got an idea.

It's worth a try.

Mercury ran at me and swung his foot towards me. I lifted my swords up.

 _NOW!_

I activated Blast Dust on my swords and sent Mercury flying back, knocking him down. Mercury landed on the ground with a crash. I ran towards Mercury, but I didn't know that he was waiting for me. Mercury got up and jumped towards the wall, he pushed against the wall with his feet and flipped over, kicking me and sending me flying across the arena and into the wall, severely depleting my Aura.

"Hmm..." Mercury said, right before blasting me with a few shots.

I fell out of the wall and the match was called.

"The winner is Mercury." Glynda said.

"Good fight..." I said, getting up.

 _Seriously, this guy is better than I thought. But at least I kept him from battling Pyrrha and learning about her powers._

"Whatever." Mercury said, walking off.

"That is all for today." Glynda said, "And remember, the dance is this weekend, but you all have your first mission on Monday. I will not accept any excuses!"

* * *

We all left the building, being met by Team SSSN outside.

"Hey Blake! How're you doing?" Sun asked.

"I'm fine." Blake said.

"Eh-hem...so I hear there's this dance going on this weekend. Pfft...sounds pretty lame but you and me, I'm thinking, not as lame. Huh?" Sun asked.

"What?" Blake asked, confused.

"The dance! This weekend! Do you wanna go or what?" Sun asked.

"I don't have much else going on...alright." Blake said.

"Great!" Sun said.

 _I don't know whether this is good or bad. I guess that catching Torchwick and knowing that he'll be interrogated is putting Blake at ease. But that might mean that Blake and Yang aren't going to have that important talk._

"Hey...Kody." Ruby said, walking up to me.

"What?" I asked.

"Have you thought about the dance at all?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah...I'm probably just going to stand awkwardly in the corner, I have done that before." I said (seriously, I do act like that sometimes).

"Well, you remember what I said about Yang possibly liking you?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah...?" I said, "Is she going to ask me or something?"

"No." Ruby said.

"Then what are you trying to tell me?" I asked.

"That **you** should ask Yang out." Ruby said.

"What!?" I asked, "Are you crazy!?"

"Why? What's wrong about that?" Ruby asked.

 _I have to tell Ruby that I shouldn't go, but without revealing where my real home is._

"I just don't think that I stand a chance with her." I said.

"Really?" Ruby asked, "What are you referring to?"

"She's leagues above me." I said.

 _Okay, that just sounds stupid._

"So?" Ruby asked, "Maybe you should try to take a point from Jaune."

"And do what? Be oblivious?" I asked.

"What are you talking about?" Ruby asked.

"It's Pyrrha, she likes Jaune but he can't see it." I said.

"Wait, so Pyrrha like, like-likes Jaune?" Ruby asked.

"Yes!" I said, exasperated, "He can't see it because he's so smitten with Weiss."

"That actually makes a lot of sense." Ruby said, "Well, I hope you take my advice and ask Yang out."

Ruby shot off to catch up with her teammates.

"Hey! Wait!" I said, "Oh great, now what do I do?"

* * *

Later that night, I was walking down the halls, heading for my dorm.

 _What do I do about all this? Is it right to go out with Yang? I still can't figure out if catching Torchwick so early was a good idea._

I wasn't looking and bumped into Jaune, causing him to drop his guitar.

"Oh, sorry, Jaune." I said.

"It's alright." Jaune said as he got down and picked his guitar up.

"What are you doing?" I asked, knowing what he was going to say.

"I'm going to win Weiss over with my charm." Jaune said, "If this doesn't work, nothing will."

"Jaune, how many times do I have to tell you? Weiss. Isn't. Interested." I said.

"Come on, there's no way that's the-." Jaune said.

"She insults you, she ignores you, she pushes you away, do the math." I said.

"Then what do you suggest I do?" Jaune asked.

"Go ask Pyrrha." I suggested.

"Why?" Jaune asked.

"Because she actually likes you." I said.

"Oh please. If she wants to go with me to the dance, I'll wear a dress." Jaune said, not acting serious.

"It's a bet." I said, "And, also, if she wants to, you have to go with her."

"Fine, but if she doesn't, you wear the dress and have to go with the first girl who asks you." Jaune said.

"Agreed." I said.

"I hope you don't feel embarrassed wearing girl's clothing." Jaune said, feeling quite confident.

Jaune walked off to talk to Pyrrha and hoped to win our bet.

"Now, what do I do?" I asked myself.

* * *

Jaune and Pyrrha's swords clashed as they sparred on the rooftop of the dorms. A few seconds later, Jaune got cocky and Pyrrha tripped him over, knocking him down. Pyrrha giggled as she walked over to her friend.

"Well done! Your swordplay's improved immensely." Pyrrha said.

"Couldn't have done it without ya." Jaune said.

"So...are you ready to move onto Aura?" Pyrrha asked.

"I-I'm actually thinking maybe we just skip Aura tonight." Jaune said, "Might go on a jog or something."

"Come on, I know you get frustrated but you must keep trying!" Pyrrha said, "I'm sure we'll discover your Semblance any day now!"

"That's not it... It's just... It's dumb..." Jaune said.

"What is it?" Pyrrha asked, "Jaune, you know you can tell me."

"It's Weiss." Jaune said.

"Oh..." Pyrrha replied disappointedly, "What about her?"

"I was going to ask her to the dance, but then Kody told me that it wouldn't work out." Jaune said, "I don't know if he's right or not."

"Well...I believe the saying goes, there's...plenty of fish in the sea." Pyrrha said.

"Well, that's the thing. Kody said that you want to go with me." Jaune said, "I thought it sounded pretty dumb and we made a-."

"He's right." Pyrrha said.

"What?" Jaune asked.

"Kody is correct." Pyrrha said.

"Why haven't you said anything?" Jaune asked.

"I couldn't bring myself too, especially after seeing you pursue after Weiss." Pyrrha said, "But, now that you've brought it up, I finally found a chance to tell you."

"But why?" Jaune asked.

"Why what?" Pyrrha asked.

"Why do you want to go out with someone as simple as me?" Jaune asked, "And what about all the people who have asked you?"

"That's just it." Pyrrha said, "No one asked me."

"But that's...you're Pyrrha Nikos. How could anybody not ask you?" Jaune asked.

"I've been blessed with incredible talents and opportunities. I'm constantly surrounded by love and praise...but when you're placed on a pedestal like that for so long, you become separated from the people that put you there in the first place." Pyrrha said, "Everyone assumes I'm too good for them. That I'm on a level they simply can't attain. It's become impossible to form any sort of meaningful relationship with people...that's what I like about you. When we met...you didn't even know my name, you treated my just like anyone else...and thanks to you, I've made friendships that will last a lifetime. I guess...you're the kind of guy I want to go to the dance with."

"Well...in that case..." Jaune said.

Pyrrha awaited for Jaune's response.

"I lost a bet." Jaune said.

"Wait...what?" Pyrrha asked.

"It's nothing." Jaune said, "I guess I'll go."

Pyrrha smiled and hugged Jaune, catching him off-guard.

"Thank you." Pyrrha said.

Jaune finished the hug, knowing that I had won the bet.

* * *

Meanwhile, in Cinder's dorm, the group was plotting.

"And next up, Kody Crimson." Emerald said.

"Oh, the one Mercury beat earlier." Cinder said.

"He's an alright fighter, but he seemed dramatically eager to fight." Mercury said.

"I agree that it's suspicious." Emerald said, "His file says that he's pretty timid."

"It does sound like things aren't fitting together." Cinder said, "I'd like you two to keep an eye on him."

"If he tries anything funny, he won't stand a chance." Mercury said.

"I would refrain from getting cocky." Cinder said, "Underestimating the enemy can lead to an awaiting downfall."

"Don't worry, if we fight again, I'll kick his butt." Mercury said, "Have a little faith."

After a moment, Emerald went back to the list of students.

* * *

 **I hope this was a fun chapter. I guess Torchwick being caught and my knowledge of RWBY really helps things. So far, all changes have been positive.**

 **Please leave a review, I'd love to know what you all think about the series and chapters. I'd really appreciate everyone's feedback.**

 **BTW, I am currently accepting submissions for OCs that might appear in the Season 3 tournament.**

 **Powerhouse out.**


	18. Chapter 18: On the Recieving End

**Time for another talk chapter. These are surprisingly fun to write and I hope that they're equally as enjoyable.**

* * *

I was working with Team RWBY in the Barn, helping with the dance. Apparently, Blake didn't have much interest in helping with the dance and was off at the library, reading some books that she had wanted to for a while now.

"Ruby, Kody, can you two come over here?" Weiss asked.

Ruby and I walked over to Weiss at the table.

"I need you to pick a tablecloth." Weiss said.

Weiss showed us two colored cloths that looked exactly the same.

"Aren't they both the same?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah, I think your vision's going, Weiss." I said.

"Ugh, I don't even know why I asked." Weiss said.

"The mysteries of the universe." I said.

As Weiss walked off, Yang walked over and put a huge speaker on the ground, shaking the table and chairs.

"So, have you picked out a dress yet?" Yang asked to Ruby.

"And I'm out of this." I said, walking off.

"Yeah." Ruby said, "But I don't understand why I have to wear high-heels."

"Another mystery!" I said off in the distance.

Yang looked over to Weiss.

"Weiss! I thought we agreed! No doilies!" Yang said.

"If I don't get doilies, you don't get fog machines." Weiss scolded.

Moments later, Sun and Neptune walked in.

"Your dance is going to have fog machines?" Neptune asked.

"We were thinking about it." Weiss said, trying to impress Neptune.

"That's pretty cool." Neptune said.

"You ladies all excited for dress-up?" Sun asked.

"Pfft. Yeah right." Ruby said, not wanting to wear the high-heels.

"Laugh all you want." Yang said, "I'll be turning heads tomorrow night."

"What are you two wearing?" Weiss asked.

"Um...this." Sun said, pointing to his unbuttoned shirt.

"Ignore him; for he knows not what he says." Neptune said.

"Hey. I may have moved to Mistral, but I grew up in Vacuo. It's not exactly a shirt and tie kind of place." Sun said.

"Yeah, we've noticed." Yang said, "So, what about you, Kody?"

"Me? Uh...I don't really dig formal wear." I said (honestly, I don't like wearing it), "I think I'll keep it simple. Probably just my school uniform."

"So, who's going with you?" Yang asked.

I immediately froze.

"Uh...I...um..." I said, "Okay, bye!"

I shot off.

"What was that about?" Weiss asked.

"I guess he hasn't asked anyone yet." Yang said.

Ruby watched me as I ran off.

* * *

Some time later, I was in the library, using the computers to research a topic we were currently discussing in history class. After a few minutes, a small red dot appeared on my screen.

 _Ugh, not this_. _But why is Yang doing this?_

I looked around, trying to find Yang, but I couldn't see her. I turned back around and saw the light appear again on my screen and watched it move around.

"Ugh." I said, getting up.

I saw the light move away and I followed it.

"Come out, Yang, this isn't funny." I said.

I saw the light go around a bookshelf and looked up when I got past it, but I didn't see anyone.

"Wait...what?" I asked.

I turned around and saw Ruby.

"Hi." Ruby said.

"What're you-?" I asked.

"We need to talk." Ruby said.

Ruby pulled me away with her super speed before I could do anything.

* * *

Soon, Ruby and I were in one of the currently vacant classrooms.

"Ruby, if this is about the dance, I'm not going to ask your sister." I said, "She's leagues above me."

"But she's not." Ruby said.

"Say what you like." I said.

Ruby sighed.

"Kody, I'm going to tell you something." Ruby said.

I looked over to Ruby.

"Yang said that she wants to go with you." Ruby said.

"When?" I asked, "And why didn't she say it to me?"

"Because she wants you to ask." Ruby said.

"I know how asking Yang stuff like that ends." I said, "Usually with the one asking ending up covered in bruises and bumps."

"But she trusts you." Ruby said, "She trusted me enough to be told that."

"Did she tell you to tell me?" I asked.

"No." Ruby said, "That was my choice."

"I doubt your sister would be cool with this." I said.

Ruby sighed once more.

"Kody, sit down, I'm going to tell you a story." Ruby said.

I sat down.

"You should just save your breath." I said.

"If you don't listen, I won't stop pestering you." Ruby said.

"Fine." I said.

"Yang and I grew up in Patch." Ruby said.

"I know that place." I said.

"Yeah, so anyways, our parents were Huntsmen. Dad taught at Signal and mom took on missions around the kingdom. Her name was Summer Rose, and she was like, Supermom. Baker of cookies and slayer of monsters. But, one day, she left for a mission and..." Ruby said, tears forming in her eyes.

"She didn't come back." I said, making it sound like a question.

"Yeah...I didn't really know what was really going on, but I knew that mom was gone." Ruby said, wiping the tears away, "Dad kind of...shut down."

"That must've been hard." I said.

"But I didn't know why dad closed himself off, until a little while later. Yang and I learned that Summer wasn't the first love dad lost, she was the second." Ruby said, "The first was Yang's mom, Raven Branwen. Dad didn't tell us everything, but we heard that the two of them were on a team together with Summer and Qrow. Raven left Dad right after Yang's birth."

"That doesn't sound too nice." I said.

"Why did she leave?" I asked, still unaware of why she left.

"I don't know." Ruby said, "You'd have to ask Yang about that."

"Ruby...why did you tell me all of this?" I asked.

"Because Yang lost two people in her life." Ruby said, "I feel that you could help fill the gap."

I sighed.

"Alright, Ruby, you twisted my arm." I said, "I'll ask your sister."

"YAY!" Ruby cheered, hugging me.

"Ruby, please let go of me." I said.

"Oh, right, sorry." Ruby nervously replied, "Good luck."

Ruby dashed off, leaving me to think about what to do next.

"Alright, I guess there's only one thing to do now." I said.

* * *

Night had fallen, and I was nervously making my way to Team RWBY's dorm.

 _Is this alright? Should I really be getting this attached to one of these characters? Well, there's their door, I guess I might as well do it._

I knocked on the door, which was opened by Ruby.

"Oh, hi, Kody." Ruby said, "Did you have a question you wanted to ask."

"Yeah." I said, "Is Yang here?"

"She over in the Barn, finalizing the plan for tomorrow." Ruby said.

"Okay, thanks." I said, running off.

"Ruby, what are you up to?" Weiss asked.

"I'm just doing both of them a favor." Ruby said.

* * *

I ran to the Barn, stopping at the doors.

 _Well, here we are. Last chance to turn back._

I hesitated for a moment and then pushed the doors open. When the doors were opened, I saw Yang moving another speaker around.

"Uh...hello." I said, approaching Yang.

"Oh, hey, Kody." Yang said, "You came just in time, I could use a little help."

"Okay, what do you need?" I asked.

"Start setting chairs out." Yang said, "I'll take care of these."

* * *

A little while later, Yang and I had finished setting up the Barn.

"That's that." Yang said, rubbing her hands together, "Thanks for the help."

"You're welcome." I said, before looking worried.

"What is it?" Yang asked.

"I was just thinking that...maybe we...we could..." I said nervously.

Yang just put her hand on her hip as she waited.

"Okay, I'm just going to come out and say it." I said, "I wanted to know if you wanted to come with me to the dance tomorrow."

"You want to know I'll go, to the dance, with you, tomorrow?" Yang asked.

"Yes." I simply replied.

"Well, since you asked so nicely." Yang said, "Yes."

"Yes?" I asked.

"That's what I said." Yang said.

"Yeah!" I cheered, jumping up and thrusting my hands into the air.

* * *

The night of the dance had come, and I was making my way to the barn, where I was met by my teammates.

"Hey, Kody." Russell said.

"Hi, guys." I said, "You guys get dates?"

"Sure did!" Russell said, "Found a pretty girl."

"I'm sure mine's better." Sky said.

"Oh really?" Russell asked.

"I've got you both beat." Dove said.

My teammates gave each other stares.

"What about you boss?" Russell asked.

"Me? Oh, I got a date, nothing **too** impressive." I said.

"Really? Who?" Russell asked.

"Hey Kody!" Yang said from behind me.

I turned around and saw Yang in her simple, white dress. Yang came up beside me and took me by the elbow and we walked towards the Barn's entrance.

"I guess I stand corrected." I said, as Yang and I walked into the ballroom.

"We're going to have to wait a bit before we can get on the dance floor." Yang said, "Is that alright?"

"Totally fine with me." I said.

We waited for a bit, welcoming the guests. Eventually, the last ones came: Mercury and Emerald.

"You guys are just in time." Yang said.

I glared at the twosome.

"Wouldn't miss is for the world." Mercury said before looking at me, "How're you doing, sport?"

"Fine." I said, "Enjoy your night."

 _I might have come to have fun, but I have to remember. Cinder's out there._

"You okay?" Yang asked.

"Uh, yeah." I said.

"Good, now let's go and have a good night." Yang said, leading me to the dance floor.

* * *

 **And that's the beginning of the dance. This is a chapter I have been waiting to write since I started. It was fun writing the moment between Ruby and I, that was a last-minute addition.**

 **Please, feel free to leave a review, it would be appreciated.**

 **Powerhouse out.**


	19. Chapter 19: A Dance to Remember

**There will be some action in this chapter.**

* * *

The night was hopping as everyone was enjoying themselves. Yang and I were having an exceptionally fun time.

"Want to get a drink?" Yang asked.

"Sure." I replied, "I was getting a little thirsty."

Yang and I made our way over to the punch bowl and found Ruby.

"Ruby, what are you doing? Hiding at the punch bowl?" Yang asked.

"Yep." Ruby said.

I looked around, and I saw that Jaune was dancing with Pyrrha.

 _Wait, it finally hit me. If Jaune doesn't see Weiss being left out, things could fall apart between Weiss and Neptune. Ugh, I'll have to step in again._

"Where's Weiss's date?" I asked.

"She came alone." Ruby said.

"What happened to Neptune?" I asked, knowing the response.

"I don't know." Ruby said, "Weiss just said that she had too much to focus on to worry about boys."

We looked over at Sun and Blake and saw them talking to Neptune.

"Hold my spot, Yang." I said, walking off.

"Uh..." Yang said, looking at Ruby.

 _Man, this is something I forgot about. I was so focused on getting Jaune and Pyrrha together that I forgot about that important talk. Maybe I can talk some sense into him myself._

"Sir-Flirts-A-Lot, you're coming with me." I said, dragging Neptune off.

"Hey, what's going on?" Neptune asked.

"You and I are going to have a little talk." I said.

I pulled Neptune outside to the front balcony and let go of him.

"Do you even care?" I asked.

"Huh?" Neptune asked.

"Let me ask again, do you even care about the girls you're hitting on and how they feel about you?" I asked, quoting Jaune.

"Whoa! Where is this coming from?" Neptune asked.

"You turned down Weiss Schnee, a girl who is constantly asked by others went out of her way to ask **you**." I said, "Do you even care?"

"I uh...it uh...it just didn't work out, you know?" Neptune asked.

"You think you're too cool?" I asked, trying to get the answer out of Neptune, "Too many other options? Weiss Schnee went out of her way and past others who asked her to go with them so she could ask you to the dance. What's your reason for rejecting-."

"I can't dance." Neptune said, cutting me off.

 _Yes!_

"What?" I asked, knowing full well how bad of a dancer he is.

"I can't dance, man." Neptune said.

"How can't you? You're so cool." I said, "Not many people can pull off blue hair."

"Thank you. I try really, really hard." Neptune said.

"So, let me get this straight, you'd rather break a girl's heart than admit you can't dance?" I asked.

"That about sums it up, yeah." Neptune said, "Please don't tell anybody."

"You have my word." I said, "Besides, I actually hate dancing. But that didn't stop me from asking Yang out to...well...dance."

"Thanks for understanding." Neptune said.

"Do you like her?" I asked.

"Yeah I mean...I don't know her too well yet, but she seems pretty cool." Neptune said.

"Then go talk to her, and don't do anything stupid; Weiss is perfect for you." I said.

"Yeah but-." Neptune said.

"Trust me, just be yourself and try to stick with her, she's one of the good ones." I said.

"Yeah...okay." Neptune said.

"Go talk to her. I guarantee it will make her night." Jaune said.

"Thanks...you're pretty cool after all, Kody." Neptune said.

"Honestly, I doubt that's true." I said.

"You sound so sure about Weiss and I, why is that?" Neptune asked.

"Let's just say, I think you two make a really good couple." I said.

Neptune smiled and walked off.

 _I hope this works out in the long run._

* * *

I walked upstairs and found Ruby and Yang watching the dance below.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." I said, walking up behind them.

"What took you so long?" Ruby asked.

"I was righting some wrongs." I said, pointing over to Neptune.

We watched as Neptune sat down with Weiss and the twosome began to talk. Yang sighed moments later.

"Tomorrow it's back to work." Yang said.

"Well, I'm sure we can handle whatever gets thrown at us." Ruby said.

"Don't be so sure." I warned.

We heard the room begin to fill with laughter.

"Okay, I take it back." Ruby said.

We looked down at Jaune, who had left for a minute to "take care of something", as he came walking back into the ballroom in a dress. The three of us went down the stairs to get a closer look.

"Jaune?" Pyrrha asked.

"Let's just say that I lost a bet." Jaune said, motioning over to me.

"Told you so." I said.

Pyrrha began to laugh.

"Jaune, why did you even agree?" Pyrrha said in her laughing.

"Hey! An Arc never goes back on his word!" Jaune said, "Now do you want to stand there and laugh at me...or do you want to dance?"

"I would love to dance." Pyrrha said.

Jaune and Pyrrha headed over to the dance floor.

"Ren! This is happening!" Nora said.

"Wait. What is happening!?" Ren asked.

Nora dragged Ren off and over to their teammates.

"Want to join in?" Yang asked.

"Uh...I'm good, I'm not all that great at dancing." I said.

"Who cares?" Yang asked, pulling me off to join JNPR, "Come on!"

As "Shine" began to play and we began to dance, I began to grow nervous. But once I got into the swing of things, I forgot all about being embarrassed and moved in sync with the others. I was so in the groove that I forgot about an important detail.

Off on the side, Weiss and Neptune were talking.

"So, what made you change your mind?" Weiss asked.

"Huh?" Neptune asked.

"You said you were embarrassed at first...what made you come talk to me?" Weiss asked.

"You're looking at him." Neptune said, looking towards me.

Weiss and Neptune looked over at me.

"You've got some good friends looking out for you." Neptune said.

Weiss felt slightly bad for how she had treated me a few months back.

"Remember, Ice Queen, now you owe me two!" I said, right before being pulled back into the dance by Yang, "Whoa!"

* * *

Up on the top floor, what I had forgotten about was beginning.

"It appears all the dancers have partners." Emerald said.

"How long do I have?" Cinder asked via a communicator.

"We should probably home by midnight to be safe." Mercury said.

"I'll keep my eye on the clock." Cinder said.

* * *

Back on the bottom floor, Yang and I were still having fun.

"So, what was that about you being bad at dancing?" Yang asked.

I rolled my eyes and smiled, but then I saw Cinder running across the rooftops and Ruby running off.

"Yang..." I said, pointing over to Ruby and Cinder.

Yang turned her head around and just caught a glipse of her sister and Cinder.

"Where's she going?" Yang asked.

"Let's go find out." I said.

Yang and I ran off to chase after Ruby.

 _I can't believe I forgot about this! That was so close!_

* * *

Yang and I caught up with Ruby as she was grabbing Crescent Rose.

"Ruby, what are you doing here?" Yang asked.

"Someone broke into the CCT, I need to find out who." Ruby said.

"Well, at least let us help." I said, "And you might want to take those high-heels off."

Ruby complied as and Yang and I called our lockers and weapons.

"Alright, we're going in." I said.

Yang, Ruby and I crept into the CCT, observing the unconscious guards that littered the floor.

"Call an elevator." I said, "Our little thief isn't here."

Ruby pressed the button and the elevator came down. When the elevator opened, it revealed two more unconscious guards. We walked into the elevator, taking the guards out of it first, and then pressed the button. The doors closed and the elevator began it's ascent.

Ruby, Yang, and I prepared our weapons as the elevator neared the top floor.

"Be ready." I said.

The doors opened, but we didn't see anyone.

"Hello?" Ruby asked.

"Do you really think that will get them to come out?" I asked.

"Maybe." Ruby said.

I sighed and motioned to Ruby and Yang to encircle the desk. As they walked around, the masked Cinder revealed herself.

"Excuse me." Ruby said, "You know, it's not a masquerade party. So why don't take off that-."

Cinder pulled out a Vial of (I think) Electric Dust and it formed a wave of crystals that flew at us.

"Watch out!" I said, protecting Yang from the crystals with my shield.

Ruby fired at Cinder, but she blocked every bullet.

"Ranged attacks aren't going to work!" I said.

Cinder almost seemed to oblige and switched to her glass swords.

"Yang, Ruby, give me some cover!" I said.

"Hey, why should you-!?" Ruby asked.

"I have swords, and she has swords." I said, "It's only fair."

I rushed at Cinder and swung my swords, she jumped back and switched to her obsidian bow and fired three arrows at me, but they were intercepted by one of Ember Celica's blasts.

"Thanks!" I said, right before charging at Cinder again and having our swords repeatedly clash.

Cinder pushed me back with a surprise shot from her bow and I crashed into the desk. I got up and had another idea.

"Ruby, Yang, open fire!" I said.

As Ruby and Yang fired on Cinder, albiet not landing any shots, I set up my Scroll and took a quick picture, getting a good view of Cinder. Cinder was about to shoot at me again, but the elevator doors opened and revealed General Ironwood. We fired at Cinder as she promptly escaped.

* * *

Cinder escaped into the ballroom and met up with Emerald and Mercury.

"Oh, may I cut in?" Cinder asked.

"Of course." Emerald said.

Emerald walked off to the side and Cinder took her place.

"And how's your night been?" Mercury asked.

"Hmm...a little more...exciting than expected." Cinder said.

"Should we be worried?" Mercury asked.

"Hardly. They'll be scratching their heads long after we've finished what we came here for." Cinder said, "Although, we may want to keep an eye on that 'Kody Crimson' fellow."

"So then what now?" Mercury asked.

"Enjoy the rest of the night." Cinder said, "After all...it is a party."

* * *

Ruby, Yang, General Ironwood, and I were all on top of the tower, discussing what had just happened.

"I see." Ironwood said, "You're free to go."

We got up and I looked over at the computer for the brief moment that the black queen appeared.

 _I'm one step closer to taking you out. Watch out, Cinder, I'm gunning for you._

We left the tower to head back to our respective dorms.

* * *

 **This was a fun chapter to write. I actually had fun putting myself in Jaune's place. When I was writing this, I had forgotten that Jaune talked to Neptune because Weiss didn't go with him. And since Jaune went with Pyrrha (and still wore the dress), I had to take Jaune's place. As the season progresses, the Canon alterations will get bigger and bigger.**

 **Powerhouse out.**


	20. Chapter 20: Questions and Missions

**Time to begin the Mission Arc, I doubt things are going to be all that great, but let's hope they are. This is going to be a Canon-conforming chapter.**

 **BTW, thanks to everyone who has read my story and for this story reaching 10,000 views, it's amazing to know that so may people like this story.**

* * *

Ruby, Yang, and I were in the elevator, heading towards Opzin's office.

"I wonder why Ozpin called us up." Ruby said.

"Probably about last night's events." I said.

"And who that girl was." Yang said.

 _I want to tell them so bad, but things might get weird._

"Come in." Ozpin said through the elevator's communicator as it stopped.

"Sorry it took so long." Ruby said as we exited the elevator, "Someone accidentally hit all the buttons on the elevator on the way up here."

Ruby took a quick look around.

"It wasn't me." Ruby said as Yang and I pointed at her.

"Thank you all for coming." Ozpin said, "How are you all feeling."

"Alright." Yang said.

"Can't really complain, a little tired though." I said.

"Okay, I guess..." Ruby said, "I'd feel better if our badguy catching record wasn't 1 for 2."

The three adults just stared at Ruby as Yang and I stood there in awkward silence.

"Okay so that's the tone we're going for...got it." Ruby said.

"I feel that it's appropriate to let you three know that I think what you all did last night is exactly what being Huntsmen and Huntresses is all about. You recognized a threat, you took action, and you did the very best you could." Ironwood said.

"Thank you, sir." Yang, Ruby, and I said.

"Now, the general here has already informed us of the events that transpired last night. But now that you've rested, we were wondering if you had anything to add." Ozpin said.

"Was anyone else with her?" Glynda asked, "Does she look familiar to you at all?"

"I...I don't know." Ruby said.

"Actually, I might have a lead." I said, stepping forward and pulling my Scroll out, "I took a photo during the conflict."

I showed the group the picture of the masked Cinder.

"I spent some time after getting back to my dorm comparing her appearance with anyone that looked similar that I've seen, and I think we have a lead." I said.

I went through the files and found a picture of Cinder in her student clothes.

"Cinder Fall." I said.

"She does seem to bear a slight appearance to her and have resemblances to the woman I fought the night I met Ruby." Glynda said, "We'll make sure to keep an eye on her."

"Wait. Do you think this girl is connected to Roman Torchwick and the White Fang?" Ruby asked.

"It's possible." Ozpin said, "Even though you have presented some good evidence, we do have one last source we can use."

"Torchwick?" I asked.

"Yes." Ironwood said, "Thanks to you and your friends apprehending him, we should be able to interrogate him and get any needed information out."

"We actually learned something else that might help." Ruby said, "We're pretty sure that she said something about a hideout or something in the Southeast, just outside the Kingdom."

"Interesting." Ozpin said, "Thank you all for your cooperation. Why don't you go and spend some time with your teams? You all have a big day ahead of you."

"Anytime." Ruby said, pulling us off.

"Please try to be discrete about this matter." Ozpin said.

"Yes sir." we said right before heading to the elevator.

* * *

The split-second I opened the door to RWBY's dorm, where we all agreed to meet afterwards, our teammates all shot up.

"What happened?" Russell asked.

"Are you expelled?" Sky asked.

"Please tell us!" Dove said.

"Uh..." Ruby and I replied.

* * *

"That sounds so awesome!" Russell said.

"You're lucky to be alive." Sky said.

"I agree, it was a risky move." Weiss said.

"I think you did well." Blake said.

"And you guys got a picture of her." Dove said.

"I hope we can uncover the culprit soon." I said, a little sour that they didn't jump on the investigation.

"I'm sure everything will be fine, guys." Yang said, right before looking over to the desk in the room, "Oh, I know what will cheer you guys up!"

"What's that?" Ruby asked.

"I don't know yet. Dad sent it to us. I thought we could open it together." Yang said.

"Eeeh! Something from home!" Ruby exclaimed.

Ruby dashed over to Yang and reached for the package she was holding. Yang shook the package and a black tube dropped out. All eight of us stood over Zwei and stared down at him. Zwei barked a few times and we all jumped up in surprise.

"Ah! Zwei!" Ruby exclaimed.

"He sent a dog?!" Blake asked.

"In the mail?!" Weiss asked.

"I had no idea anyone could do that." Russell said.

"Is that even legal?" Sky asked.

"Oh he does stuff like this all the time." Yang said as Ruby and I cuddled Zwei.

"Your father or your dog?" Blake asked from up on Ruby's bunk.

"Are you telling me that this mangy...drooling...mutt is going to wiv wif us forever?" Weiss asked, "Oh yes he is yes he is! Awh isn't he adorable?"

"And...saved." I said, smirking as I filmed Weiss with my Scroll.

Russell gave me a thumbs-up.

"Please keep it away from my belongings." Blake said.

"Would all first year students please report to the amphitheater?" Glynda asked over the loudspeakers.

"Well we can't exactly leave him here while we're gone for a week." Weiss said.

"Look! There's a letter. "Dear girls...I'm leaving the island for a few days, so I'm sending Zwei to you to take care of. Enclosed is all the food you should need. Love you both, Taiyang" " Yang said, right before tipping the package over and dropped and unholy amount of dog food out of it.

"What is he supposed to do with that?" Weiss asked.

"How did he even fit all that in there?" I asked.

Yang shook the package again and a dog can opener dropped out.

"Well, that settles it! Come on everyone, Zwei will be here when we get back." Yang said right before leaving the room.

"Oh I'll miss you so much. We're going to be best friends. I can't wait to see you again!" Weiss said, slowly walking off.

I stood there, filming Weiss again as my teammates left.

Blake jumped off of the bed and then a lamp and through the door.

Ruby looked down and Zwei, and he looked back up.

"I know that look in your eyes." I said, "But don't worry, I won't stop you."

I walked off to follow the others.

* * *

We all walked into the amphitheater, awaiting Ozpin's speech.

"Quiet, quiet please," Glynda Goodwitch said from the stage.

We left our bags in the corner and found a spot with Team JNPR.

"Professor Ozpin would like to share a few words before we begin," Glynda Goodwitch said just before moving back so Ozpin could use the microphone.

"Today we stand together, united…Mistral, Atlas, Vacuo, Vale…The four kingdoms of Remnant." Professor Ozpin said, "On this day nearly 80 years ago, the largest war in recorded history came to an end.  
"It was a war of ignorance, of greed, and of oppression. A war that was about much more than whose borders fell or who traded with who…but about the very idea of individualism itself.  
"We fought for countless reasons. One of which being the destruction of all forms of art and self expression. And as you all are well aware, that was something many could not stand for.  
"As a result, those who opposed this tyranny began naming their children after one of the core aspects of art itself: Color. It was their way to demonstrate that not only would they refuse to tolerate this oppression, but neither would the generations to come. And it was a trend that is held to this very day.  
"We encourage individuality, expressionism, and unity—through diversity. As I have said, today we stand together, united. But this bond cannot exist without effort. Which is why today while the rest of the world celebrates peace, Huntsmen and Huntresses will work to uphold it. As first year students, you'll be tasked with shadowing a professional Huntsman or Huntress on a mission.  
"Some of you will be taken out of the kingdom for several days. Others may work within the walls for the rest of the week. But no matter which path you choose, remember to be safe, remember your training, and remember to do your very best."

Ozpin left the stage as everyone applauded his speech.

"This is perfect! All we have to do is shadow a Huntsman working in the southeast." Ruby said.

"Yeah, we'll follow them around by day and give them the slip at night!" Yang said.

"We'll try to find something there too." I said.

"Let's check _Search and Destroy._ " Weiss said.

"We'll look around for anything else in Quadrant 5." I said.

We walked off to the same kiosk as RWBY, who found a mission in _Search and Destroy_ while we found a Quadrant 5 mission in the _Village Security_ section.

"Here we are." Sky said, "There's a village that needs to be protected in Quadrant 5."

"Perfect, let's choose it." Russell said.

"Alright." I said.

Ruby and I typed our teams' names for the missions, but we were denied access to them.

"Wonderful." Weiss said.

"This sucks." Russell said.

"Any other ideas?" Blake asked.

"We mail ourselves there!" Ruby said.

"Considering everything your Dad could fit in that package, it would probably work." I said.

"Well, that's one option." Ozpin said, approaching us, "Unfortunately, we determined that the concentration of Grimm was too extreme for first year students. It seems that particular region is rather popular. In fact, I have the sneaking suspicion that the eight of you will make your way there no matter which job you choose."

"Whatever makes you say that?" Ruby asked.

I facepalmed.

"I'm still curious as to how you all found yourselves at the docks last semester." Ozpin said, "I'm interested to know how you really learned about a "hideout" in the southeast. And I certainly wonder why witnesses reported seeing robots and rose petals in a dance club some time ago."

"Umm..." Ruby said, "Well..."

"I doubt I'll ever find the exact answers I'm looking for. So how about this: instead of waiting for you all to break the rules, why don't we just bend them?" Ozpin asked.

Ozpin pressed a few buttons on his oversized Scroll and both missions were accepted for us.

"We won't let you down." Ruby said.

"We promise." I said.

"Thank you, professor." Ruby and I said in sync.

"Do not thank me for this." Ozpin said, "Team work and persistence have carried you far but you must understand, the things that await you beyond the protection of the kingdom will not care. Stay close to your Huntsman at all times, and do exactly they say. They will be leading you on your missions, and they can have you sent back to Beacon if he finds your skills to be unsatisfactory."

Ozpin walked off and we all looked at each other.

"Good luck." Ozpin said, peeking back over to us.

* * *

We all walked out of Beacon towards the air dock.

"That wasn't exactly uplifting." Yang said.

"Yep." I said.

"It's gonna be tough, but I know we can do it." Ruby said.

"Hey! Team CFVY is back!" a student said as he ran by.

We all ran over to the returning team.

 _I can't believe I get to meet Team CFVY. These guys needed way more screen time._

"Velvet, are you okay?" Blake asked.

"I'm fine. I had Yatsuhashi to look out for me." Velvet said.

"Your mission was supposed to end a week ago, what happened?" Weiss asked.

"Nothing happened. It was just...there were just so many." Velvet said, "Oh, but don't worry. You first years are just shadowing Huntsmen, so you should be fine."

"Rightttt..." Yang said.

"I should go...be safe ok?" Velvet asked as she walked off.

"We can do this." Ruby said, "We've never backed down before, and we're not going to start now!"

"Right." Blake said.

"Hi, Team CFVY." I said, finally speaking.

"We're doomed." Weiss said.

"Don't worry, we're not going to be the only ones fighting, we're fighting with genuine Huntsmen!" Ruby said.

"Yeah!" Yang, Russell, and I said.

* * *

We all stood in front of our respective Huntsmen. Team RWBY had Oobleck and we had Professor Port.

"Why, hello girls!" Oobleck said, "Who's ready to fight for their lives?"

* * *

 **This chapter wasn't all that much. But this is going to lead into new content with my team's mission, I hope it will be great. In case you're wondering, the mission I chose for my team is actually on the screens; a little under RWBY's.**

 **I apologize to MEWTWOisawesome, he requested to have an OC for the Huntsman, but it just didn't feel right for the story. I'm sure I'll allow him to get an OC in the tournament.**

 **Once again, thanks to everyone for 10,000 views, it makes me so happy to know people would give time to read this. I hope this story can continue for a long time to come.**

 **Powerhouse out.**


	21. Chapter 21: (Un)happy Hunting

**Happy 4th of July everyone! So glad we can celebrate this holiday today!**

* * *

We all stood there, staring at the two Huntsmen who stood before us: Doctor Oobleck and Professor Port.

"Professor Oobleck?" Weiss asked.

"Professor Port?" my team and I asked.

"Oh-ho!" Port said, seeing the team he got, "I've heard stories about you and your team, mister Crimson."

"Yeah...and I'm sure you have a lot of your own." I said.

"You couldn't be more right!" Port said, "In fact, that reminds me of another story..."

Yang just stared at us.

"Hey, at least you guys got lucky." I said to Yang.

Oobleck shot off to the ship as Port droned on, unaware that we weren't listening to him.

"Well, alright then." Ruby said, "Looks like we're going to be save the world with Professor Port and Doctor Oobleck-Okay yeah, when you say it out loud it sounds worse."

We all nodded.

"Save the world?!" Nora asked as JNPR came up behind us, "You're going on world saving missions without us? I'm hurt! Sad! Maybe a little hungry? That last one's not your fault, though...Ren."

"Sounds exciting! Where are you going?" Jaune asked.

"Oh just outside the kingdom." Ruby said.

"Same with us." I said.

"Hey, so are we!" Nora said.

"Ren and Nora wanted to shadow the sheriff of a nearby village." Pyrrha said.

"We set out tomorrow." Ren said.

"Then you can party with us tonight!" Neptune said as he and Sun came up, "We're shadowing a crime specialist. All inner-city detective stuff. We get Junior Badges!"

"OHHHH!" Jaune moaned in awe.

"We normally go to the city with you guys, which means stuff's always exploding and junk. So we thought this might be a better way to check out the kingdom when it's...ya know...normal." Sun said.

"Well-." Ruby said.

"Four minutes, ladies!" Oobleck said from over by RWBY's designated bullhead.

We all stood awkwardly for a few moments.

"Well...uh...wish us luck." Ruby said.

As everyone began to separate, Yang turned towards me.

"Don't get yourself killed." Yang said.

"I won't." I said.

"Good, because we never finished our dance." Yang said, "And I'd like for you to survive until then."

I smiled and nodded as we split up to head to our mission sites. RWBY and my team waved to each other as the bullheads flew off, carrying us in slightly different directions.

* * *

"Sooooooo..." I said as our bullhead flew through the air, "You're our Huntsman."

"Indeed." Port said, "I can tell you that this is going to be quite the hunt!"

"What exactly are we going to be doing?" Dove asked.

"We've received word that the White Fang might have a hideout nearby." Port said.

"How does that relate to village security?" Russell asked.

"I was getting to that." Port said, " _Ahem_ , by taking out the White Fang base, if it exists, we will ensure the security of Anzen, the village we have been sent to protect."

"Well, sounds like this could be an exciting assignment." Sky said.

"Are we going to be stopping at Anzen?" Dove asked.

Suddenly, the bullhead's left thruster fell off.

"What was that?!" Russell asked.

"Someone or something disconnected the thruster!" Sky said.

I looked over and saw a sword that I recognized.

 _Oh no, it's him._

We held on tightly as our bullhead fell towards the ground.

"Hold on, young lads, we're about to have a rough landing!" Port said, "But not as rough as the story of-!"

"NOT NOW, PORT!" my teammates and I said.

The bullhead crashed into the ground with a loud landing. When the dust cleared, I looked around and saw the foliage and plants that the crash had destroyed.

"Everyone alright?" I asked.

"Yeah." Sky said.

"I'll live." Dove said.

"Just a flesh wound." Russell said.

We looked over to Port and saw him stand up and get his weapon ready.

"You alright?" Sky asked.

"Indeed." Port said, "But what has me worried is the fact that that was no accident."

"I was thinking the same thing." I said.

"Did you guys hear that?" Dove asked.

"No." I said.

After a moment, we all prepared our weapons and formed a circle with all of us facing outwards.

"I saw something!" Sky said.

"I did too!" Russell said.

I looked into the foliage and saw the silhouette of someone running.

"You guys aren't the only ones!" I said.

We stayed ready.

"Come out and fight us, foul beast!" Port said.

"Port, that might not be the best-" I said.

Moments later, we saw White Fang soldiers peek out from behind the trees, with their weapons ready.

"We're surrounded!" Sky said.

"Run for cover!" I said.

The White Fang soldiers opened fire as we ran for the downed bullhead. We all peeked out and began to fire back, except for Russel, who had no ranged weapons.

"They must've known that we were coming!" Sky said.

"But how?" Dove asked.

"Unless there's a traitor among us or something, I have no clue as to how they would know!" I said.

 _But I know that none of my teammates would be a traitor, but then...what could it be?_

"Kody, watch out!" Russell said.

I looked to my left and saw a barrage of gunfire coming my way. I tried to move, but then Russell jumped in front of the blast and blocked most of the bullets with his knives.

"Thanks, dude." I said.

"I still took quite a few of those." Russel said as he hid back behind the broken metal of the bullhead, "Any ideas on how to get out of here?"

"Let me think..." I said.

 _What should we do?_

I got up and looked around, and I soon got an idea.

"Guysl, I have a plan." I said.

* * *

Meanwhile, the White Fang soldiers were closing in.

"Capture the leader!" a White Fang commander said, "Feel free to kill his teammates, but leave the Huntsman!"

The soldiers noticed that we had stopped firing back.

"Maybe they surrendered." a White Fang soldier said.

"Stay on your guard." the commander said.

The soldiers walked closer to our downed bullhead. Meanwhile, in the bullhead, I was sitting on my shield, on Professor Port's elephant gun.

"I clearly didn't think this through." I said.

"Have a safe voyage, Mister Crimson." Port said.

I braced for launch as Port pulled the trigger. The blast from his elephant gun blasted my shield and sent me flying up above the trees.

"AAAH! THIS IS LOT SCARIER THAN IT WAS IN MY MIND!" I yelled.

"What in the name of Remnant is he doing?" the White Fang commander asked.

 _Let's hope this works._

I pulled out a pair of Blast Dust vials and put them in my gloves. I activated the Dust and channeled it through my shield. Now, as I fell through the sky, my shield became like a meteor that was ready to crash.

"EVERYBODY RUN!" the White Fang commander said.

The White Fang soldiers made a break for it.

"Duck!" Russell said.

My teammates ducked as my shield and I smashed into the ground, creating a huge explosion that spread through the area. The blast knocked the White Fang soldiers away and out cold, burnt the leaves off of a few trees, and, surprisingly, didn't harm me. Yet, due to the impact, I lost quite a lot of Aura.

"It worked." I said.

"Great job, Kody!" Russell said.

"Yeah..." I said, still shaking from the whole ordeal, "Now...let's get going before reinforcements arrive."

We ran off, hoping to find a nice place to set up camp for the night.

* * *

A few hours later, we had arrived at a small cave.

"This is the perfect place to set up our temporary shelter." Port said, "Mister Crimson, have you and your team prepare everything for the night."

"Sure thing." I said.

 _I might think that he's...odd. But I have to listen to the guy._

* * *

Some time later, we had made a campfire and set up our sleeping bags. Now, we were all preparing for the night.

"I'll take the first watch." I said turning my shield into a gun.

I walked off, leaving my teammates to talk.

"So, have you guys noticed it too?" Russell asked.

"Are you asking if we've noticed that Kody is acting a little strange lately?" Sky asked.

"I'll take that as a yes." Russell said.

"I'm kind of worried." Dove said.

"Yeah. He's acting like he knows what's about to happen before it happens." Russell said.

"I suppose you're right." Sky said, "I think it was most obvious during RWBY's gameplay of ' _World of Remnant_ ', during his retelling of his mission with Team RWBY, and at the dance. He knew exactly what to do in those situations."

"It's almost like he's seen it all before." Dove said.

"Which is stupid." Russell said, "I personally think that he's either really good at making choices or he has a second Semblance for some bizarre reason."

I was sitting at the entrance of the cave and I could hear what my teammates had said.

 _Should I tell them? If I do, would they believe me? Would they still trust me?_ "

I thought long and hard as our long night began.

* * *

 **Interesting fact: Anzen is a Japanese word for "security", do you see the way it ties together with my team's mission? At least, I'm pretty sure that's the case.**


	22. Chapter 22: Find and Seek

**Time for more of my team's mission. I hope this is a good one.**

* * *

The night was dark, the only sound that could be heard was the light crackling of the dying fire that sat in the middle of our sleeping bags. Dove was on watch now and I was back at my sleeping bag, trying to sleep but not being able to.

"Having trouble sleeping?" Port asked as he approached me.

"Is it that obvious?" I asked back.

"What's on your mind?" Port asked.

"It's just...I have something that I want to tell my teammates, but I feel like it might make them see me differently." I said.

"Well, if it's keeping you from resting, then you should probably tell them." Port said.

"But that's the problem, I don't think I should." I said.

"Is it something embarrassing?" Port asked.

"Not really." I said.

"Is it bad or illegal?" Port asked.

"No." I said.

Port was silent for a moment.

"Were you sleeping with Miss Xiao Long?" Port asked.

"What!? No! I don't run like that!" I whispered really loudly.

"Good, because we don't encourage that behavior in school." Port said.

 _Yeah, says the old fart who flirted with her._

"Then what is troubling you?" Port asked.

"It's...a personal matter." I said.

"Well, I don't what else to say other than this: tell your friends, then can help you." Port said.

Port walked off to go check on Dove.

 _Maybe I should tell them._

* * *

Another hour later everything was still quiet. The fire had finally died out and we thought our work was done for the night.

"Alright." Sky said as he walked up to Dove, "It's my turn."

As Dove was about to get up, distant voices could be heard.

"You hear that?" Dove asked.

"Yeah." Sky said.

Sky and Dove prepared their ranged weapons and searched the distance. A few seconds later, a small squadron of White Fang soldiers became visible.

"What's up?" I asked, walking over to my teammates.

"A White Fang squadron." Dove said, "See them?"

I looked in the direction Dove was pointing and saw the White Fang squad.

"They must be a scouting patrol." Sky said.

"We should take them about before they can find us." Dove said.

"No." I said, pushing Dove's weapon down, "We're supposed to find their base, and they could lead us there."

"Good thinking." Sky said, "I'll wake Russell up."

* * *

A few minutes later, we were all awake and ready. After leaving the cave, we began to follow the scouting patrol, making sure to stay out of sight.

"I wonder how much further we'll have to go." Russell said.

 _I'm wondering more about why that masked man is here. Does he really know where I'm from? If so, why does he want me dead?_

"I think we found the outpost." Sky said.

I looked up and saw a cave entrance with armed guards standing at it.

"It must be." I said.

"What's the plan?" Dove asked.

"Well, I think that-." I said.

"I am in charge of this hunt." Port said, "And I decide that we get them with a surprise attack."

"It's not polite to interrupt, you know." I said, "But, in all seriousness, what's your plan exactly?"

* * *

A few minutes later, we were all in position, waiting to begin the attack.

"Awfully quiet tonight." a White Fang guard said.

Russell sat behind a bush and started to make a goofy animal noise.

 _This is a stupid plan._

"What's that?" a guard asked.

"Probably a wild animal." another said.

"What if it's a Grimm?" the first asked.

"Fine. I'll check." the second said.

The second guard walked over to Russell. Once he was in the darkness, Russell pulled him in and knocked him out.

"Who's there!?" the remaining guard asked.

Port peeked out from behind a tree, staying in the shadows, and aimed his elephant gun at the guard. Port pulled the trigger and fired a blast at the guard, knocking him into the cave wall and knocking him out.

"Oh-ho, that was quite a cunning strategy, if I do say so myself." Port said.

"I had a better plan in mind." I muttered to myself.

"If it works, it works." Sky said.

"Come now, our prey are inside." Port said.

We approached the cave entrance.

"Seems awfully dark." Dove said.

"Smart planning." I said.

"Yeah, Faunas have night vision, after all." Sky said.

"Any ideas?" Dove asked.

"I got one." Russell said.

Russell activated Fire Dust on one of his knives, creating a light source.

"A makeshift torch, great idea." I said.

"Let us begin the perilous journey into the darkness." Port said.

* * *

We continued through the cave, which seemed to be endless.

"I hope we didn't get lost." Russell said.

"We've been going in a straight line the whole time, I don't think we can get lost." I said.

We began to see a faint light ahead.

"What's that?" I asked.

We walked out into the area and quite a sight came into our view.

"Where are we?" Russell asked.

"Mountain Glenn." Port said, even he was shocked.

"What are the White Fang doing here?" Sky asked.

"I don't know, but I guess we found their hideout." Dove said.

"Everyone, be careful." I said.

We slowly crept through the underground city, remaining vigilant. Soon, we saw the upper torsos of two passing White Fang soldiers.

"Hide." I whispered.

We hid behind some cover, but I peeked out to see what was happening. The guards had the unconscious Ruby in their clutches.

"It's Ruby." I whispered.

"What's she doing here?" Russell asked.

I stayed silent.

"Is something wrong?" Russell asked.

My teammates gave me a worried look.

"Guys, there's something I need to tell you..." I said.

Suddenly, a bullet flew by my head and I ducked for cover.

"Intruders!" a guard said, "Find the boss!"

 _Boss? But Torchwick is in jail. So that leaves only..._

A small grenade rolled over by us.

"Duck for cover!" Sky yelled.

We all got up to run for new cover, but I got hit by the blast and was sent flying. My head made contact with a stone wall and I blacked out.

* * *

All I could see was black and I couldn't hear anything; I thought I was dead for a moment, but I soon heard a familiar voice calling to me.

"Kody. Kody." I heard Ruby's voice call.

I slowly opened my eyes and looked around, I saw that Ruby and I were being dragged by a squadron of White Fang guards.

"What happened?" I asked.

"I don't know." Ruby said, "I just woke up and saw that they got you to. Speaking of which, what are you doing here?"

"We followed a tunnel in a nearby cave and ended up here." I said, "The last thing I remember was a grenade blast."

"I guess we're in this together now." Ruby said.

Ruby and I looked around and saw the White Fang loading up stuff onto a train.

"Do you have your weapons?" Ruby asked.

I pointed to the bracelets on my arms, showing that I still had my gloves. Ruby let out a sigh of relief.

"Hey! Be careful!" a White Fang soldier said, "What are you trying to do, blow us to the moon?"

"Sorry sir!" another soldier replied.

Soon, the squad carrying us came to a stop.

"Hey boss! Found some things you might want to see!" the White Fang goon known as 'Perry' said.

"Is it good or bad?" a familiar voice asked.

"Uh...it's some kids." Perry said.

The mysterious man who was out to get me peeked out from inside the boxcar.

"That would be a bit of both." the man said.

 _I knew it._

"You." I said.

"You know, I've been looking for you, and you just made my job so much easier." the man said.

The man jumped out of the train car and walked over to me. He put his hand under my chin and raised my gaze to meet his.

"And I am going to make you suffer for all of the trouble you've caused me." the man said.

 _This can't be good_.

* * *

Over by where my teammates were, they were starting to wake up.

"Ugh." Russell groaned as he pushed a pile of rubble off of himself, "How is everyone?"

Sky, Dove, and Port got up out of the piles of rubble.

"I'm fine." Sky said.

"I'll live." Dove said.

"Where is your leader?" Port asked.

Russell looked around.

"Yeah, where is Kody?" Russell asked.

The rest of my team and Port found their weapons.

"We need to find Kody." Russell said.

Suddenly, a nearby sound could be heard.

"They must be coming to finish us off." Sky said, "Prepare for combat."

The group prepared for battle, but they didn't expect the rest of Team RWBY and Doctor Oobleck to come around the corner.

"Team CRDL?" Weiss asked.

"Team RWBY?" Dove asked.

"And Professor Oobleck?" Sky asked.

"Doctor." Oobleck said.

"What are you doing here?" Blake asked.

"We followed a tunnel and ended up here." Russell said.

"Where's Kody?" Yang asked.

"We think the White Fang captured him." Port said.

"We believe the same happened to young miss Ruby." Oobleck said.

"If that's the case, then we need to rescue them before things get worse." Russell said.

"Agreed." Yang said, "Let's go."

* * *

The mysterious man threw me across the ground and I soon skidded to a halt.

"You know, you are much more manageable without your friends nearby to bail you out." the man said.

"And you really want me dead." I said, "How about I call you 'Reaper'? Like the grim reaper?"

The man groaned and used his Semblance to lift me up and throw me against one of the boxcars.

"I think he likes it." I joked.

Reaper, as I called him, pulled a sword out and moved me so close to it that the tip of the blade was a centimeter from my face.

"You're lucky that I want to make you suffer." Reaper said.

The man dropped me.

"I'd ask about how you found this place, but I'm sure you already know the answer." Reaper said.

Ruby seized the moment and kicked the White Fang soldier that was holding her in the shins and dashed off in a burst of rose petals.

"Oh-no you don't." Reaper said.

Reaper held his hand out and used his Semblance to pull Ruby back over to us.

"You, on the other hand, I have no compunction to kill." Reaper said.

 _3...2...1..._

Suddenly, there was an explosion that rocked the area.

 _Right on time_.

"Perry, go check that out." Reaper said.

Moments later, there was mini-quake.

"What is going on?" Reaper asked.

A few moments later, we watched as a bunch of White Fang soldiers were chased off by my teammates, Ruby's teammates, Doctor Oobleck, and Professor Port.

Ruby dashed at Reaper and knocked him down, releasing me from his grasp.

"Thanks, Ruby!" I said as we began to run off.

"Feel free to kill the girl!" Reaper said, "The boy is mine!"

Reaper used his Semblance to lift me in the air as the White Fang goons fired at Ruby.

"Kody!" Ruby cried, turning her head back.

"Don't worry about me!" I said as I got pulled back.

"Tell everyone that we're moving out!" Reaper said.

"Yes sir!" a White Fang soldier said.

 _They must've gotten the train loaded. This isn't good._

* * *

Ruby finally reached her teammates.

"Ruby!" Yang happily said, embracing her sister.

"I'm fine, I'm FINE! But listen! The mysterious man has Kody, and he's loaded up that train. They're getting ready to leave!" Ruby said.

"He's got Kody?" Yang asked.

Yang looked past Ruby and saw me being dragged through the air.

"We need to rescue him." Ruby said as Blake handed her Crescent Rose.

"Wait, you said that train is getting ready to leave?" Russell asked.

"Yeah." Ruby said.

"That's impossible." Port said.

"Precisely, these tunnels are sealed!" Oobleck said, "The tracks lead to a dead-end!"

"Get to your places! We are leaving NOW!" a White Fang goon said over some loudspeakers.

"What now?" Russell asked.

"We're stopping that train." Ruby said.

* * *

Back over by the train, Reaper was about to take me onboard the train.

"Now, let's go." Reaper said.

"Sorry, but I'm taking a raincheck." I said.

I activated my gloves and used Gravity Dust to launch a blast that knocked Reaper back and sent me flying past the train.

"Why you little-" Reaper said as the train began to move.

 _That was close._

"Kody!" Yang said.

"Yang, guys!" I said, "I'm so happy to see you all!"

"Fancy meeting you here." Yang said.

"Same could be said for you." I said, fully knowing that they'd be here.

But our moment was broken as we looked over to the leaving train.

"Sorry to break up this tender moment, but we need to hitch a ride." I said.

"Not without this you won't." Russell said as he handed me my weapon.

"Great." I said, "Let's go."

We all hopped onto the train, ready for battle.

* * *

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter. The next one is going to have quite a bit of fighting. Feel free to leave a review, I want to hear everyone's feedback on this series.**

 **Powerhouse out.**


	23. Chapter 23: Boxcar Brawl

**Time for a train ride. I hope to write some good fights for this chapter. I finally get to write more of the rest of CRDL fighting baddies.**

* * *

We were now on top of the White Fang's train, and we knew there was no getting off easily.

"Hurry children! We must get to the front and stop this train!" Oobleck said.

"Uuh...Professor?" Weiss asked.

"Doctor." Oobleck said.

"What's that?" Weiss asked, pointing at something in the boxcar.

"That my dear, appears to be a bomb." Oobleck said.

"You think?" I asked.

"We've got baddies!" Ruby said, pointing ahead.

We looked over and saw a bunch of White Fang goons coming our way.

"Well I didn't expect them to go..." Oobleck said.

Suddenly, the bomb started to set off an alarm.

"RUN!" I said.

"Blake, detach the caboose, it will kill us all!" Oobleck said.

"On it!" Blake said.

Blake jumped down between the cars and went to detach the caboose, but it unlatched by itself.

"It de-coupled itself!" Blake said.

"What?" Oobleck asked.

"I guess he really doesn't want us on this train!" Yang said.

"Probably more me than you!" I said.

We watched as the caboose exploded behind us.

"That's not good." Oobleck said.

"Uhh, neither is this!" Ruby said.

"Another bomb!?" Blake asked as she climbed back up.

"No, no, no..." Oobleck said as he ran to the next car, "They all have bombs!"

The bomb in the car we were on began to go off. We all didn't hesitate and jumped across to the next car.

"This doesn't make sense!" Yang said.

"What are we going to do if this all bombs!?" Sky asked.

"We need to turn them off before they can explode!" Weiss said.

"Agreed!" Port said, "But first, we have to deal with them."

We looked over at the White Fang goons that were approaching us.

"Sweet, cannon fodder!" Russell said, "I call dibs!"

Sky fired the gun in his halberd and launched a similar fashion to what Ruby would do, but he slammed his blade into the top of one of the cars and screeched to a halt. The White Fang goons in front of Sky began to laugh. Sky smirked as he fired the weapon again and flipped the halberd over, slamming the weapon down on the goons and launching them off the train.  
Dove saw a few goons coming his way and blocked their weapons with his sword, then spun around and knocked a few off. A few more goons came running at him and he activated his gun and fired at them. The goons stopped to dodge the bullets. Dove then held his sword upside down and hit the remaining goons he was against off of the boxcar.

"Kody, give them a dose of our team attack!" Russell said.

"Good idea!" I said, "Phoenix Twister!"

I activated my shield and Russell jumped onto it. I loaded Blast Dust into my right glove and ignited it. The resulting blast sent me and Russell flying forwards. I screeched to a halt and Russell used his momentum to launch through the air. Russell spun around midair and activated Fire Dust, becoming a fire twister. Russell's spinning sent fire everywhere and knocked White Fang goons off of the train.

"My turn." I said.

I looked forwards and saw that there were no goons left.

"Oh come on!" I said.

* * *

Meanwhile, Port and Oobleck were watching as the car behind us exploded and let a lot of Grimm into the tunnel.

"Oh dear..." Oobleck and Port said in unison.

"He's leading Grimm to the city!" Oobleck said.

"What!?" Weiss and Sky asked.

"It's the cars! They detach and explode, creating openings for the Grimm!" Oobleck said.

"That's insane!" Blake said.

A split-second later, the car behind us detached.

"We have to hurry!" Oobleck said.

"You don't have to tell me twice!" I said.

"We need six of you to go below and try to stop those bombs!" Oobleck said.

"I'd recommend that Sky and Ruby stay above and help us out here." Port said, "The rest of you should go down below."

"Good idea!" I said, "Let's go!"

"What are we going to do, exactly?" Sky asked.

"We're going to stop this train." Ruby said.

We all split up, ready to do our job.

* * *

As Ruby, Sky, Oobleck, Port, and Zwei battled the robot mechs on the roof of the train, the rest of us dropped down into a car.

"I guess this is what we've trained for." Yang said.

"Here, this should help you." Weiss said, handing a container of Dust vials to Blake.

After Blake loaded the Dust magazine into Gambol Shroud, we ran down to the end of the car, where we came face-to-face with Neo Politan.

"Blake, Weiss, do you think you can beat her?" I asked.

Blake and Weiss nodded.

"Good." I said.

I looked over to Neo.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but we'll have to settle our score later." I said as we ran past Neo and to the next car.

Blake and Weiss stared Neo down, who simply smirked at them. Blake pulled Gambol Shroud out and fired at Neo, who used her umbrella to block the bullets. Weiss rushed at Neo and swung her sword at her, Neo dodged all of Weiss's attacks with seemingly no effort and countered her by hitting her across the face with her parasol. Blake charged at Neo and swung Gambol Shroud at her, Neo dodged once again and attempted to counter. When Neo's parasol hit Blake, she created a shadow clone that took the blow and then Blake used her weapon like a grappling hook to grab Neo and throw her into the air. Weiss launched at Neo by using a glyph and attempted to hit her, but when Weiss made contact, the image of Neo shattered. Weiss fell to the ground as the real Neo safely landed on a box and smugly smirked.

* * *

Yang, Dove, Russell, and I came running through the next car, where we saw the White Fang lieutenant approaching us.

"Kody, you and your girlfriend go on ahead!" Russell said.

"She is not my-!" I said, not willing to admit it.

"Worry about that later and let's go!" Yang said.

Dove and Russell rushed the chainsaw-wielding lieutenant and blocked his blade, giving Yang and I safe passage to the car ahead of us.

"They left you with me?" the lieutenant asked, "Pathetic."

Russel and Dove prepared for battle.

* * *

Yang and I came into the next car and saw Reaper.

"Long time, no see." Reaper said, "I see you brought a friend."

 _Here we go._

"This ends here." I said.

"You know, when I want you dead, you should respect the wishes of your elder and stay dead." Reaper said.

"Sorry to disappoint you," Yang said, "but he's not going down that easily."

"Yeah! What she said!" I said.

Reaper raised his hand and lifted Yang and I into the air.

"You know that won't work anymore." I said.

I activated the Gravity Dust in my gloves and launched myself at Reaper. I pulled my swords out and our weapons clashed as Reaper had to let Yang go so he could defend himself.

"I defeated you, her, and the entirety of both of your teams, how do you think you stand a chance against me?" Reaper asked.

"We've both improved quite a lot." I said, "For example..."

I jumped back, allowing Reaper's weapons to swing so he was slightly off-balanced.

"Crimson Dragon!" I said.

I activated Blast Dust on my gloves and Yang grabbed me by my feet. Yang began to spin around, swinging me in the air. After a few moments, Yang let go and sent me flying towards Reaper. Reaper was about to use his Semblance, but I crashed shield-first into him and sent him flying towards a wall.

* * *

Dove and Russell dodged an attack from the lieutenant and leapt to the side.

"Dove, I have an idea!" Russell said, "Keep him busy!"

"Got it!" Dove said.

Dove repeatedly attacked the lieutenant with his sword, keeping him busy. But the lieutenant swung his weapon quickly and got a lucky shot, sending Dove flying.

"Looks like your plan-." the lieutenant said.

"Is working!" Russell said.

Russell jumped at the lieutenant, activated Blast Dust in his knives and stabbed them into the chain of the chainsaw, causing an explosion that blew the chain off of the weapon and sent Russell's knives flying. As Dove got up, the knives flew by his head and narrowly missed him.

"HA!" Russell said, laughing at the lieutenant's broken weapon.

"Watch where those things get launched!" Dove yelled.

The lieutenant chuckled and aimed his weapon at Russell and pulled the weapon's trigger, firing a shotgun blast that sent Russell flying.

"Oh...that had quite a kick." Russell said.

Russell got up just in time for the lieutenant to grab him by the neck.

"Russell!" Dove said.

The lieutenant threw Russell at Dove and knocked both of them down.

"He's a lot tougher than he looks." Russell said as he and Dove got up, "And that's saying a lot."

"Time to kill two birds with one stone." the lieutenant said.

The lieutenant ran at Russell and Dove. Suddenly, Dove got an idea.

"Russell, I have an idea." Dove said.

The lieutenant stopped when he was a few yards away from Dove and Russell and opened fire on them. Dove and Russell rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the blasts.

"Now, Russell!" Dove said.

Russell jumped up and threw his knives near the man's feet. The knives stabbed into the ground.

"It looks like you missed." the lieutenant said.

"Did I?" Russell asked.

The lieutenant felt something cold and looked down, he saw that his feet were frozen to the ground.

"Lights out!" Dove said as he swung the blunt side of his sword at the lieutenant's face.

* * *

Back in the first car, Blake and Weiss were still facing off against Neo.

"Blake, I have a plan." Weiss said, "I need you to keep her busy."

Blake nodded and approached Neo as Weiss began to focus. Neo smirked as Blake neared her. Blake swung her blade at Neo, and she blocked it with her parasol and swung around, kicking Blake in the leg. Blake slashed at Neo with her weapon again, but Neo spun around Blake and jumped onto her back. Neo pulled back to flip Blake over, but Blake created a Blast Dust shadow clone instead and Neo launched into the air with it. Neo thought fast and pulled her parasol out, using it like a pole and balanced perfectly on it. Blake aimed her gun at Neo and fired at the Blast Dust duplicate. Neo opened her parasol and launched back, using her weapon to stop the bullets from hitting both her and the Dust duplicate. Once Blake ran out of ammo in her current clip, Neo used her umbrella to spin around, carrying the Dust duplicate with her legs, and then threw the Blast Dust duplicate at Blake. Blake jumped back and narrowly avoided the blast. Neo smirked at Blake, but she smirked back. Neo took a moment to realize the she was now surrounded by a dome of glyphs.

"Now!" Weiss said.

Weiss and Blake leapt at the glyphs that the dome was made out of and used them to shoot around and repeatedly attack Neo. After a few hits, the glyphs disappeared and Blake and Weiss landed safely. Neo saw that Blake and Weiss were still up and jumped back, appearing to disappear.

"Where did she go?" Weiss asked.

"We can't worry about that right now." Blake said, "We have to help the others."

* * *

 **And that was chapter 23. This one was a blast to write, I had so much fun doing the fights, especially the Russell and Dove versus White Fang lieutenant one. I hope the season finale is going to be just as cool, but this one is going to be hard to top.**

 **BTW, I am accepting OC submissions for the Vytal Tournament to compete as fighters.**

 **Powerhouse out.**


	24. Chapter 24: An Invasion and Information

**Time for the Volume 2 finale. I will put this story on break for a while so I can work on some of my other stories that are in need of updates, primarily my story "What if Adam Taurus Turned Good?".**

* * *

The White Fang train continued down the tunnel. Inside of one of the boxcars, Yang and I stood ready as Reaper got up from the impact.

"Wow...you actually landed a hit." Reaper said, "I must say, I'm really impressed."

"I take that's not a compliment." I said.

"How perceptive of you." Reaper said, "But I suppose that I should start trying."

 _Wait, is he seriously not even really fighting?_

Reaper raised his hands up, lifting all of the crates in the train car up. Reaper flicked his fingers forwards and threw the boxes at us.

"Look out!" I said.

The crates flew towards Yang and I. We dodged them, but we were surprised as a few of them exploded, sending us flying.

"And that's why people check your baggage." Yang said as she got up.

"Still making jokes?" I asked.

"It was one of those times." Yang said.

"You may want to try focusing on me." Reaper said.

Reaper rushed at me and swung his sword. I tried to block his blade with my two swords, but he swung his weapon so fast and with such skill that I was barely keeping up. Reaper jumped up, I thought he was trying to avoid my attack, but he heard Yang coming and jumped up so that she punched me instead of him. Reaper then dropped down on Yang and kicked off of her, landing back on the other side of the car.

"Wow, he's way tougher now." I said.

"Now, to finish you off." Reaper said.

Reaper was about to lift more of the crates up, but he saw a glyph appear under his feet. Reaper leapt back and narrowly avoided an explosion as Weiss, Blake, Dove, and Russell came into the car.

"Did we miss anything?" Russell asked.

"Not really." I said.

Reaper looked around and noticed that he should leave.

"I would like to stay and fight, but it was about time that I left." Reaper said.

Reaper jumped up and used his Semblance to open the roof hatch, letting him out of the train.

"Do you think that he was afraid to fight us?" Dove asked.

"I don't think it was that." I said.

"Come on, let's follow him!" Russell said.

* * *

On the roof of the cars, Ruby, Sky, Port, Oobleck, and Zwei finished off a pair of mechsuits.

"Ruby! Sky! You two go on ahead!" Oobleck said.

"What about you?" Sky asked.

"Do not worry." Port said, "We're going to give them a lesson."

Port and Oobleck ran off to face the mechs that were further back on the train.

"Considering how he could kill students with his boring classes, this won't be that hard." Sky said.

Ruby and Sky were about to walk off, but Zwei looked up at them an whimpered.

"Go." Ruby said.

Zwei perked up and followed the two teachers.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Sky asked.

Ruby ran past Sky and went to the next car.

"Alright." Sky said as he followed Ruby.

Ruby and Sky came to a halt as the six of us climbed out of the car and saw the approaching dead-end.

"What do we do?" Blake asked.

"We're all gonna die!" Russell cried, panicking.

"Not what we're looking for!" Sky said as he held Russell down.

Weiss stabbed Mytenaster into the roof of the train car we were on. We all quickly huddled together as the ice encased us. But something quickly popped into my mind.

 _Wait a minute, Raven never came. So that means-_

But my thoughts were interrupted as the train crashed into the dead end, knocking us all unconscious.

* * *

I regained consciousness, but all I could hear was a loud siren sound and see white. After a few moments, my vision came back and I looked around, I saw my teammates and Team RWBY, we had survived the train crash. I also saw a bunch of civilians nearby. After a few moments, the ground began to shake and a King Taigenta burst through the ground behind us, releasing a lot of Grimm into the city that terrorized the citizens of Vale.

"This is bad." Russell said.

We saw the Grimm turn their gaze towards us and began to charge at us.

"Run!" I said.

The eight of us ran to the center of the plaza and were soon surrounded by a whole mess of Grimm.

"This is heavy." I said.

"Tell me about it." Russell said.

"What are we going to do?" Sky asked.

"Other than get torn apart?" Dove asked.

The King Taigenta roared and the other Grimm closed in on us.

"We fight!" I said.

Sky ran at a pack of Creeps and slid on his knees, using his halberd to cut their legs off. A group of Beowolves ran Sky's way and he stabbed his weapon into one of the dying Creeps. Sky swung his weapon around, using both that and the Grimm like a hammer, sending the monsters flying.

Dove jumped off of the plaza center and stabbed his sword into the back of an Ursa, the beast flailed about in an effort to get him off. Dove used this to his advantage and utilized his sword as a way to guide the Ursa in the direction that he wanted, using the Grimm he was riding almost like a weapon.

Russell rushed the King Taigenta and it swung its black head at him. Russell jumped up onto the monster's head and slid down it, stabbing his knives into the beast with Energy Dust active. Russell's knives slid down the beast's back like butter and soon the monster had a huge gash in it's back.

"Finally, I get to kill something!" I said.

I ran at an Ursa and stabbed my swords into its underbelly. I swung the blades, splitting the monster in two, only to reveal a pack of Beowolves that were coming my way. I flipped backwards and merged my swords into a rifle, which I used to shoot the pack to pieces. I looked up and saw Yang falling down from the sky.

"Oh geez!" I said.

I ran over and caught Yang in my arms, the impact of Yang landing created a shockwave that made a small crater around us.

 _Thank goodness for Aura, otherwise my arms would be gone._

"Looks like we're even now." I said.

"Watch out!" Yang cried, pointing behind me.

I looked back and saw a pack of Creeps charging me. I put Yang down and we jumped back to gain some distance. I opened fire on the monsters as Yang launched a car at them, knocking them down. Moments later, we heard a familiar explosion sound. We looked up and saw Nora flying through the air, riding her hammer.

"KAZAM!" Nora cried as she slammed Magnhild onto the head of the King Taigenta, killing it.

We looked over and saw Team JNPR was now here.

"They took their sweet time." I said.

"DEATH STALKER!" Russell said.

I looked over and saw that my partner was being chased by a said Grimm.

"Don't worry, we got this!" I said, "Dove, you and I will take care of the pincers! Sky, take care of the stinger!"

The Death Stalker swung one of its pincers towards Russell, but Dove jumped in and blocked it with his sword. I jumped in and kept the other claw back with my shield, allowing Sky to leap onto the Grimm's tail. Sky ran up the top of the tail and jumped, cutting the stinger off during his descent. The stinger dropped down into the Death Stalker's skull.

"Russell, give him a dose of Blast Dust!" I said.

Russell turned around and ran at the Death Stalker. Russell stabbed his knives into the beast's eyes and activated Blast Dust, blowing the monster's head clear off. As the Death Stalker died, Sun and Neptune came into view.

"Nobody move! Junior detectives!" Sun said as he held his badge up.

"We have badges so you know it's official." Neptune said as he held his badge up as well.

Sun and Neptune fist-bumped and then, moments later, a huge Atlesian ship flew over the combat zone. Sun dropped his badge as he watched the Atlesian military come flying in.

"We were doing just fine!" I said, looking up at the Atlesian military.

"Hey, don't look a gift horse in the mouth!" Russell said.

We watched as the Atlesian Knights began to make short work of the Grimm.

"Hoo boy, I hope those things never turn." Dove said.

I flinched as I remembered something.

 _The Fall of Beacon! I can't believe that I almost forgot about it all!_

I wasn't paying attention as an Alpha Beolwolf approached me from behind. I turned around and saw the beast about to leap at me. I reached for my weapons, but Mercury leapt in and kicked the beast in the skull, blowing its head off. Mercury landed and smirked at me before running off.

"It's not like I owe you or anything!" I said.

We soon heard an airship come flying in and saw Team CFVY coming in.

"This is going to be awesome." I said.

My team and I watched as Team CFVY absolutely decimated swarms of Grimm.

"Man, now I feel so weak." I said.

"Ditto." my teammates said.

* * *

Some time later, after the other students finished off the remaining Grimm, my team, Team RWBY, Team JNPR, Team CFVY, Sun, Neptune, Mercury, and Emerald gathered in the central plaza.

"That wasn't so hard." Coco said.

I looked over at Team CFVY with a gleam in my eye.

"You do know that they aren't celebrities or anything, right?" Yang asked.

"I don't care, I'm getting their autograph." I said.

"See you guys later." Coco said, walking off, "I want to see if there are any other good clothing stores left in town."

Team CFVY walked off.

"But...but...autograph..." I protested.

"Well Kody, you win some, you lose some." Yang said.

I held my head low as we boarded a bullhead and flew back to Beacon.

* * *

Soon, my team, RWBY, JNPR, Neptune, and Sun were all sitting on the ledge of the airdock, looking over to Vale.

"Well, we did it." Yang said.

"We did it." Blake said.

"If we don't get extra credit for that, I'm going to be seriously disappointed." Weiss said.

"Weiss, a two-headed snake literally crushed a bakery." Yang said, "I wouldn't count on it."

"Plus, I mean, we didn't solve everything." Ruby said, "A lot of people were hurt, and we still don't know why they did this or who that mystery girl was."

I began to grow uneasy.

"Kody, you alright?" Russell asked.

I remained silent.

 _If I'm going to tell them, now would be the time._

"Kody?" Russell asked.

"Huh?" I asked.

"You okay?" Russell asked, "You seemed to space out for a bit there."

I stayed silent for a bit. Everyone gave me a concerned look.

"Guys...I haven't been totally honest with all of you." I said.

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.

"I've been holding something back for a while now." I said, "I didn't know how or when to tell you guys."

"What is it?" Jaune asked.

I stayed silent again.

"I'm..." I said, hesitating for a moment, "...not from here."

"Well we figured that you are a transfer student." Weiss said, "So why is this so shocking to us?"

"I'm actually from further out than that." I said.

"Another kingdom?" Ren asked.

"Even further." I said.

"Are you an alien?" Nora asked.

"No...nothing like that." I said.

"What are you trying to say?" Sun asked, "Just spit it out."

"I'm from another dimension." I said.

Everyone burst out in laughter.

"I'm not kidding!" I said.

Everyone calmed down and looked at my face.

"You're serious?" Weiss asked.

"Yes." I said, "In my world, we don't have Grimm, or Semblances, or even Aura..."

"Sounds like a boring place." Sun said.

"Let me finish." I said, "But we do have...RWBY."

"You mean that we're there?" Ruby asked.

"No...we have a show that follows your adventures." I said, "I thought that I was only watching a story written by some people, not a world made by those people."

"You can't be serious." Jaune said, "This sounds far too ridiculous."

"Did any of you ever wonder how I knew what the best choice to make in a lot of situations was?" I asked, "I've seen all of this before, and what is to come."

"And that would be?" Ren asked.

I sighed.

"I have a lot of explaining to do." I said, "You'd best get comfortable."

I began the long explanation of everything to come in the future. The Vytal Tournament, Cinder and her team's devious intentions, the Fall of Beacon, the current Fall Maiden, Penny's death, Pyrrha's death, Torchwick's death, Yang losing her arm, Ozpin's death, Cinder becoming the Fall Maiden, Team RWBY's divide, Blake running away and Sun chasing after her, The Nuckelavee, Ren and Nora's pasts, Salem and her minions, The White Fang's presence in Menagerie, Oscar Pine and Ozpin's reincarnation, Qrow's poisoning and recovery, Weiss's crash landing, Yang's meeting with Raven, Raven being the Spring Maiden, Oscar Pine's arrival, Lionheart's allegiance to Salem, Ilia revealing her love for Blake, the battle of Haven, RWBY's reunion, their need to go to Atlas, and everything else in between.

"Whoa." Ruby said.

"This is...a lot to take in." Blake said.

"How can we believe that this is true?" Weiss asked.

"He hasn't let us astray yet." Yang said, "So I believe him."

"And he knew about our shared past." Ren said, "We never told him about it."

Pyrrha and Jaune were remaining extremely quiet.

"Taking the news hard?" I asked.

"What do you think?" Jaune asked, "I was just told that Pyrrha died, and it sounds like it will happen."

"Sounds like Blake takes the Fall pretty hard." Sun said.

"This sounds like a dark future." Sky said.

"I'm...surprised, to say the least." Dove said.

"And you know nothing else beyond that?" Russell asked.

"Nope." I said, "I was brought here the night after I finished that...episode."

"I have no idea what's going on anymore." Neptune said.

After a few moments, Ruby spoke up.

"Is there anything we can do to avoid this future?" Ruby asked.

"I don't know yet." I said, "But I will soon."

"Okay." Ruby said.

After a moment of silence, Russell spoke up.

"Anyone else tired?" Russell asked.

Everyone else agreed and got up to go to bed. Halfway back to the main building, I realized something.

"Hey...Yang." I said.

"Yeah?" Yang asked.

"I just remembered something." I said, "We never got to finish our dance."

"I almost forgot about that." Yang said.

"So...I was wondering...do you want to finish it?" I asked.

"Know a good place?" Yang asked.

"I actually have one in mind." I said.

* * *

Once it was dark, I was standing on the roof of the Beacon dorms, staring up at the moon.

"Am I late?" Yang asked as she came onto the roof via the stairs.

"I would have waited longer, so no." I said, turning towards Yang.

I looked over at Yang as she was wearing her dress that she wore to the dance.

"If I had known we were dressing up, I would have gotten my uniform." I said.

"It's alright." Yang said, "I kind of like you this way."

I blushed, but tried to hide it.

"So...do you remember where we were?" Yang asked.

"I don't totally remember, but I have a good idea." I said.

I took Yang by the hand and we continued our dance from the Vytal Ball and enjoyed the rest of the night, putting the events of the future into the back of our minds...just for the night.

 _I guess I really am stuck here. Well...I guess now I have a purpose._

* * *

 **And that's it for Volume 2 of this story. I hope it was enjoyable. The reveal of the future events to the members of the other teams was actually something I knew that should happen at the end of this Volume. I actually do like Team CFVY a lot, they need more screen time. I hope you look forwards to future volumes.**

 **Remember to leave a review and maybe check out my other stories while this one is on break. Don't forget, OC submissions are open for those who want an OC to appear in the Vytal Tournament.**

* * *

 **Sneak Peek Clip**

* * *

Reaper walked onto the rooftop that Cinder, Emerald, Mercury, and Adam Taurus were on.

"Ah...the failure of a leader approaches." Mercury said.

"I may have appeared to fail..." Reaper said, "But this is all leading up to the endgame."

"That we agree on." Mercury said.

"Trust me...you may want to change things up a little." Reaper said, "Because just like that boy...I know what's coming."

"I'm listening." Cinder said.

Under his mask, Reaper smiled and began to tell Cinder of everything to come, and what they should do.

* * *

 **Powerhouse out.**


	25. Chapter 25: Preliminaries

**Hey, everyone, this story isn't dead, it's just that my focus on my new story "Ashes of a Friend" and my Pokémon story, and college, have kept me from writing for this story. But after a long wait, I hope to bring you all a satisfactory third season.**

* * *

 _I've come so far after so long. I mean, I came to the world of Remnant with no idea how I ended up here. Then I came face-to-face with a man who wants nothing more than me dead, we bust the White Fang and then saved Vale. Now I told my new friends everything I knew about the future of their world. Since then, we've been doing everything we can to help prevent that future from coming to fruition. But as my teammates and I begin our first round of the Vytal Tournament, I guess we'll soon learn whether or not we're truly prepared._

* * *

 **OST: Time to Say Goodbye**

* * *

"Russell, behind you!" I cried.

Russell swung his knives up to block an attack from Yale Bronze, Cardin Winchester's teammate.

"Worry about yourself!" Cardin said.

Cardin lashed his mace at me, but I raised my shield up and blocked the attack, but it sent my skidding across the ice on one half of the arena.

"Kody!" Sky cried, "Dove, cover fire!"

Dove nodded and started firing at Nicolas Violet and Andrew Quartz, forcing them to hide behind the trees of the mountain area.

"Kody, you okay?" Sky asked, helping me up.

"Yeah, but Cardin is a lot stronger than I thought he'd be." I said, "But I think I have a plan to get him out."

"Just tell me what to do." Sky said.

* * *

Andrew and Nicolas popped out from behind their cover and opened fire on Dove, who quickly jumped behind an icy wall.

"What's keeping Kody and Sky?" Dove asked.

Russell got hit over to Dove and landed with a crash.

"I don't know, but Team CYAN really packs a punch!" Russell said.

"Ha, ha, ha, this fight is a joke." Cardin said, "This is a total massacre for you guys."

Dove and Russell growled right before they watched me shoot through the air at Cardin, spinning around with Fire Dust activated on my gloves, turning me into a human meteor.

"Flaming Talons!" I cried as I spun and flew at Cardin.

"Cardin!" Yale cried, shoving Cardin out of the way and getting launched out by my attack instead.

Yale flew out of the arena and landed in a long roll.

"Yale Bronze is eliminated by ring out!" Professor Port said from the Amity Arena announcement booth.

"That looks like it was a real burn!" Oobleck said.

"We hit the wrong target!" Sky said.

"You bet you did!" Cardin said, grabbing me by the face and slamming me into the ground.

"Russell, get in there and help!" Sky said, "Dove and I can take care of Andrew and Nicolas!"

"Got it!" Russell said.

Russell rushed towards Cardin and I as Dove and Sky opened fire back on Andrew and Nicolas.

"Dove, we need to get in close!" Sky said.

Dove observed the area.

"I've got a plan." Dove said, "But it's crazy."

"Then it should work." Sky said.

* * *

Nicolas and Yale noticed that the gunfire had stopped suddenly.

"What's going on?" Yale asked.

"I'll check." Nicolas said, "It could be a trap."

Nicolas peeked out from behind the trees, but he didn't see Dove or Sky anywhere.

"I don't see them anywhere." Nicolas said.

"They're hiding, waiting for us to come out." Yale said.

"Or so you think!" Sky said.

Suddenly, Sky came front flipping down near Yale and Nicolas, stabbing his weapon into the ground near them.

"Missed!" Yale said.

Suddenly, Yale got hit in the back and began to stumble towards Sky. Sky jumped away from his weapon and watched Yale trip back on his Halberd.

"Yale!" Nicolas said.

Nicolas was about to raise his weapon, but Sky fired his Halberd and it popped out the ground, he then spun around and hammered Nicolas with the butt of the blade, sending the poor fellow flying.

"Dove!" Sky said.

"Got it!" Dove said.

Dove stood over by Yale as he got up. Yale's eyes opened to reveal that Dove was standing right in front of him, sword ready.

"Batter up!" Dove said.

Dove swung his sword like a baseball bat and hit Yale over to Nicolas.

"Soaring Strike!" Sky said.

Sky planted his weapon in the dirt and Dove stood on the pole. Sky fired his weapon, sending Dove right at Nicolas and Yale, crashing into them and knocking them towards the edge of the arena.

"Yes!" Sky said.

Yale thought quickly and grabbed Dove as he fell, taking my teammate with him.

"Dove!" Sky said.

Sky rushed over to the edge and saw that Dove was on the ground outside of the arena, along with Nicolas and Yale.

"Wow, a last-second takedown by Yale Bronze!" Port said.

"It appears that Dove and Sky were at least able to eliminate two members of Team CYAN! This leaves Cardin to face the rest of Team CRDL!" Oobleck said.

* * *

Over in the ice area, I was being pinned by Cardin's mace.

"Ha! Not so tough now, are you?" Cardin asked.

"Maybe not alone." I said, "But with my friends, I stand tall."

"What are you even-?" Cardin asked, right before being kicked across the face by Russell, knocking the bully back a foot or two.

"Thanks, Russell." I said.

"No problem." Russell said, holding his hand out.

Russell helped me up. Soon, me, Russell and Sky had Cardin surrounded.

* * *

"You got him on the ropes!" Ruby said.

"Kick that bully's butt!" Yang said.

"You're being far more proud of Kody than usual, Yang." Weiss said.

"Hey, he's earned my respect." Yang said, "It's hard for someone to do that."

"I thought it was because you and him were together now." Blake said.

"I-uh-um..." Yang stuttered.

"Heh, what's it like, having a boyfriend who wasn't even born here?" Ruby asked, nudging her sister with her elbow.

"Let's just focus on the fight, okay?" Yang asked, turning back to my battle with Cardin.

* * *

"We got you outnumbered Cardin." I said, "You've lost."

"You think that..." Cardin said, "but I have an ace up my sleeve."

"What?" Russell asked.

"It's a little trick I've been holding for just such an occasion." Cardin said, "What you saw during our sparring match a few months ago was just a taste."

"Huh?" Sky asked.

Cardin's body began to pulsate with a faint glow that slowly made the jewel on his mace glow brighter and brighter.

"Guys, take him down, now!" I yelled.

We all ran towards Cardin, who raised his mace up.

"Checkmate!" Cardin said, slamming his mace at the ground and sending a huge shockwave out that launched my whole team into the air.

 _Wow! This has way more force than before! He must've really improved his control over his Aura! Enough thinking about that, I need to act fast!_

I quickly activated my gloves and prepared to fire Blast Dust. However, I soon realized that I wouldn't be able to get enough counterforce to launch back to the arena.

 _I didn't want to do this._

I pulled my shield off of my back and slammed my gloves into it, the blast sent me flying back to the arena, but my primary weapon was now of out my reach.

"At least I made it back." I said, "Now what about-?"

"Sky Lark and Russell Thrush have been eliminated by ring out!" Port said.

"That's not good." I said, "Not only are my teammates out, but I'm also a weapon down."

"What?" Cardin said off in the distance.

 _I need to make a plan._

* * *

"Wow, Kody's in real trouble." Jaune said.

"Without his teammates and his primary weapon, he's at a tremendous disadvantage." Ren said.

"Not to mention the fact that Cardin's improved quite a lot." Pyrrha said.

"Kody, cream that bully!" Nora cried, "You're better than this!"

"Nora, please calm down." Ren said, "I'm sure he's thinking of a strategy as we speak."

* * *

"Come out wherever you are." Cardin said, walking through the forest area I was hiding in, "I'll make this quick."

Suddenly, a group of trees fell towards Cardin.

"AGH!" Cardin cried, right before channeling some of his Aura into his mace and smashed the timbers to splinters.

"Gotcha!" I cried.

I jumped up into the air and activated Air Dust on my gloves, sending the wood shards at Cardin, depleting his Aura.

"How?" Cardin asked.

"My Semblance creates Aura claws that can cut through almost anything." I said, "Trees a synch. Speaking of which...timber!"

More trees fell towards Cardin, who quickly rolled out of the way.

"Do you plan to bring down the whole forest?" Cardin asked.

"No, just enough." I said.

I grabbed a large chunk of wood and activated Fire Dust on my gloves, throwing the giant fireball at Cardin, who used his arms to block the attack.

"Time for you to fly back to the nest!" I said, rushing at Cardin and swinging a fist at him.

Cardin thought fast and swung his mace, channeling Aura through it. My glove, with Blast Dust active, and Cardin's mace collided, sending the both of us flying in opposing directions. I flew through the air, landing in the ice area and skidded towards the edge.

"Kody!" Yang cried from the stands.

Yang's cry caused my mind to have a flash of thought, I quickly activated my Semblance and dug it into the ice of the area, hoping to slow my slide.

* * *

Yang and the rest of RWBY watched as I slid out of sight behind a large ice boulder.

"Oh no!" Ruby said.

"Did he fall out?" Weiss asked.

"Cardin Winchester is eliminated by Aura depletion!" Port said, "Team CRDL wins!"

"Huh?" Ruby asked.

The screens above the arena showed that I was hanging from an ice rock that went over the edge of the arena.

"That was close." Yang said, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Come on, let's go congratulate them." Ruby said as her team got up.

* * *

I dropped down from the ice and landed on my rear as my teammates and Cardin's team walked over to me.

"Good fight." Cardin said, holding his hand out.

"Thanks." I said, letting Cardin help me up.

"That was intense." Russell said, "You guys have really improved lately."

"Thank Cardin." Yale said, "If it weren't for him changing his focus from bullying to training and studying, we never would have been that good."

"It was almost too close to call." I said.

"I should have focused more on avoiding attacks and not wasting my Aura for my Semblance." Cardin said, "I'll remember that for the future."

"Either way, it was a good fight and I can't wait to have a rematch." I said.

"Count on it." Cardin said, "Come on, guys, let's go grab some grub."

Cardin and his team walked off as RWBY and JNPR came over to us.

"Good job, Kody!" Yang exclaimed, jumping at me in a hug and spinning around.

Ruby giggled.

"Called it!" Ruby said.

Yang suddenly stood stiff and rushed right next to me, acting like nothing had happened.

"I'm just happy for him." Yang said, her eyes staring away from Ruby.

"Uh huh." Ruby said slyly.

"How about we just get ready for our match?" Yang asked, "We're up next."

"Good luck against ABRN." I said.

"We won't need it." Yang said, smiling.

We all headed off, unaware that even though we knew everything about everything to come, we didn't know that our enemies also knew. And we would soon come to regret that in the days to come.

* * *

 **I hope that was a good premiere. As you could see, things have settled down between CRDL and CYAN. Who knows, maybe we'll see more of this friendlier Cardin the future. Anyways, I hope you're enjoying your Thanksgiving and I'll see you with another chapter sometime.**

 **Powerhouse out.**


	26. Merry Christmas (From the Cast)!

**Hey, everyone, here are some Christmas greetings from the cast and I.**

* * *

"Is this thing on?" I asked as I adjusted a camera.

"I think it is." Russell said.

"Hey, everyone back home!" I said, "We were able to establish a connection with my homeworld, but we can't keep it for long. We're contacting you all with a message of cheer. Merry Christmas and happy holidays!"

"If you guys are wondering about the lack of chapter uploads, please don't worry, the rest of Season 3 had to be reworked so it is currently undergoing rewriting." Sky said.

"We're trying to get another one out before the New Year, but no guarantees." Dove said.

"But, yeah, we of Team CRDL hope you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!" I said.

Suddenly, we heard a knocking at our dorm's door.

"Who could that be?" I asked.

I opened the door and was met by Yang.

"Oh, hi Yang, what're you doing here?" I asked.

Yang pointed up and my gaze turned towards the mistletoe that Ruby was holding up on a long stick between Yang and I.

"Yang...what are you doing?" I asked.

"Merry Christmas, world hopper." Yang said, leaning towards me.

"Guys, guys!?" I said.

"Uh...that's it from us here at Team CRDL." Russell said, "He probably wants time alone."

"No, I'm not ready for this!" I said, "Somebody help m-!"

Team CRDL shut the camera down.

* * *

 **Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!**


End file.
